Many of today’s US police departments have computer forensics teams on hand that can perform digital sleuthing when a case calls for it. For most departments, however, the online realm still isn’t a standard “beat” during an investigation. Lieutenant Charles Cohen, an Indiana state trooper, hopes to change this with a lecture he’s taking to police departments across the country about the usefulness of searching online communities for clues and for criminals. The message is simple: forensic experts aren’t the only law enforcement people who need to be keeping a close eye on online activities.
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The new techniques seem to be having an initial impact. A growing handful of crimes are being solved or at least aided by information gleaned from searching MySpace profiles and staking out Second Life areas. But if these methods are going to continue producing results, however, a lot more work needs to be done to go beyond merely tipping officials off to these tools; more will need to be trained to understand how these networks function, as well as how and where the trends ebb and flow. As social networking criminals wise up to efforts from law enforcement, these digital clues and practices could evolve to become more cryptic and sophisticated as cops invade the web.
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