b'have put increasing pressure on theirawayfromdigital-forensicsprofes- victims are reluctant to submit their digital-forensicsprofessionals.Tosionals, freeing them to allocate theirdevices to police for a day, let alone a keepinvestigationsmoving,manytime to tasks more in keeping withweek or a month. Informing a victim areworkingovertime,contributingtheir level of expertise.orwitnessthattheywillnotneed toincreasedinvestigationcostsatMuchofthebottleneckintopartwiththeirdevice,andthat a time when resources are limited.digital-forensicslabsoccursduringthey can choose exactly what theyll Policeleaderscannotcommittoevidenceprocessing.Devicesareshare with officers, may give them paying overtime costs in perpetuity.recoveredbyofficersinthefield,the assurances they need to support Nor can they expect to address thedeliveredtothelabandaddedtoan investigation. surgeindigitalevidencebyhiringanever-growingqueue.IncasesAutomating the Processingmoreprofessionals.Theyreunderlike a hit-and-run, a video that was extraordinarypressurejusttokeeprecorded only minutes before policeEveniffirstrespondersengagein their pre-existing talent in the facelow-riskevidencecollection,itwill ofcompetitionfromtheprivatearrive at the scene may be all thatsnot alleviate case backlogs entirely. sector and a global talent shortage inneeded from a cooperating witness.Unlikeahit-and-run,investigations the field.Intheseinstances,firstrespondersintohomicide,terrorism,human cancontributetodigitalinvestiga- traffickingorchildsexualexploita-With cyber and cyber-enabledtions and take some of the pressuretionoftenrequirepolicetocollect crime expected to continue its rise,off the digital-forensics lab.multipledeviceswithterabytesof policeleadersareataninflectionThe Federal Bureau of Investigationevidence.Theevidenceforeach point.Thechoicestheymakenow(FBI) came to the same conclusion indevice must be processed, requiring willinfluencewhethertheiragen- 2016, when it said it was impera- digital-forensicsspecialiststorun cieswillrisetothechallengeortive for first responders to have amultipletoolsandwaitaroundfor beengulfedbyit.Maintainingtheworking knowledge of how to surveythe resultssometimes for hours at current approach will inevitably leadandsecureelectronicevidence.a time. When theyre not physically to an erosion of the publics trust asResearch also suggests that the publicpresentduringevenings,weekends more and more crime associated withexpects police officers to respond toandholidays,evidenceprocessing digital evidence goes unaddressed.digital crime, regardless of the size ofgrinds to a halt and justice is delayed. Transforming Evidence their agency. Rather than defer thePoliceagenciesshouldautomate To transform digital evidence from awork to a digital forensic professionalrepeatable tasks related to common liability to an asset, police agencies who may take hours to recover adigital evidence and case types. Doing musttreatdigitalinvestigationsassinglepictureortextmessageatsowouldhavemultiplebenefits, an agency-wide strategic imperative.significant cost to the agencytheremost significant among them being They need to use their broader work- isanopportunitytoempowerfirstthat agencies could keep investiga-forcemoreeffectivelyandemployresponderstorecoverlow-riskevi- tions running 24 hours a day, seven technologieslikeautomation,dence by leveraging simple evidencedays a week, 365 days per year.ArtificialIntelligence(AI)analyticscapture tools.Oncetheprocessingburdenis andthecloud.ThegoalshouldbeAsidefromtheefficienciesthisaddressed,agenciescanfocuson to eliminate case backlogs by redis- approach would create, it would alsoanalyzingdigitalevidencetohelp tributing the more menial workloadhelp build public trust. Witnesses andcompletecaseswithgreaterspeed Designing and manufacturing Municipal and Provincial O\x1fences Badges for over 40 years.Call us today to design and customize your Badge. 1.877.661.1103info@strathcraft.comStrathCraft.com The Official Publication of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police9'