News

To catch a thief: Kiosks used in crime lab

January 5, 2011

Orange County is building a crime forensics lab with kiosks to extract data from cell phones, including text messages and incoming and outgoing calls, according to National Cyber Security. Investigators can hook up phones to the kiosks and burn that information onto a compact disc in less than 30 minutes.

If phones contain geo-tagged photos, the kiosks can generate the latitude and longitude of a suspect.

"Almost every case in the FBI now has digital components," said Jason Weiss, director of the Orange County regional lab. "With facilities like this we can help fight cyber crime in a digital age."

The 21,000-square-foot lab also houses about 25 workstations where data will be analyzed with specialized forensic software, which categorizes data found on computers and other digital media, said District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

He said the evidence processed by the lab would speed up the process of bringing charges against criminals and taking them to court.

"We are in need of staying a step ahead of the criminals," he said. "We know that this resource and this sharing of resources is going to help us protect the community and save lives."