by Yossi Carmil, CEO, Cellebrite*
When we began this article series it was with an eye toward “Policing in the Age of COVID-19,” and how law enforcement would need to adapt to manage through these unprecedented times.
Part 1 provided a prescription for transforming departments to deal with the growing crisis— accomplishing a much larger mission without increasing resources, gathering and protecting data, and how technology might be used to expedite investigations in a work-at-home environment. Part 2 addressed the global impact of the pandemic with suggestions on how investigators working remotely could use technology to help fight rising rates in cybercrimes, child exploitation, and domestic violence.
While myriad questions loom as to how we should move forward, one thing is certain—COVID-19 is and will continue to be a part of how individuals, businesses and countries are managing their lives…at least until a vaccine is tested safe and available in quantities large enough for worldwide distribution.
Amid these ebbs and flows, law enforcement globally has performed admirably in this “new mode” of operation. And there is much that can be done to maintain law and order, fight rising crime types, control borders, and formulate plans to become more effective and efficient despite budgetary challenges.
Here’s how we at Cellebrite see things evolving along with some specific recommendations for assessing existing resources and formulating reasonable goals and strategies to advance the capabilities of your agency.
Maintaining Order Amid Rising Crime
Let’s not sugar coat it, we truly are in the midst of a perfect storm where the pandemic, civil unrest, and politics have collided head on. As Johns Hopkins continually reminds us, COVID-19, like other COVID strains, persists as a communicable disease that can be highly contagious.
Criminals Are Emboldened: As more law enforcement agencies deal with the personnel impact, criminals are taking advantage of what they perceive as vulnerable police and investigative resources. On the streets, gun violence is surging across major U.S. cities along with protests in other parts of the world. Field technologies that enable frontline officers to perform consent-based extractions in the field and the use of kiosks both help speed data back to investigative teams and can be a valuable asset to take the burden off of your labs.
Internet Crimes Are Rising: As the Coronavirus surged, so too did the crimes that prey on those whose reliance on the Internet has put them at risk. From online scams to bank fraud and corporate hacking, cybercrimes have risen dramatically as more people have depended on the Internet for everything from grocery shopping to sending money abroad to relatives in need. As a result, tools that can unlock, preserve, and analyze cloud-based evidence are becoming increasingly important.
Violent Crimes Are Growing: Domestic violence is on the rise with many victims unable to escape their abusers because of the mandated lockdowns. And recent numbers from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) shows that child exploitation cases have risen sharply during the pandemic with NCMEC reporting “a 93.33% increase in online enticement reports between January - June 2020 versus the same time period in 2019.”
Stopping these crimes and bringing those who perpetuate them to justice is what harnessing the power of digital intelligence is all about. Now, more than ever, having a digital intelligence strategy and an integrated solution that empowers teams to access, manage, and analyze data remotely can be a game-changer for departments and agencies looking for innovative ways to increase their efficiency and collaboration in solving these and other crimes.
Border Control is Growing Concern: For many countries, economic protection starts at the border. Screening potential virus carriers is key as is guarding against criminals who may be involved in narcotics, human trafficking, or other illicit activities. This is especially concerning for EU countries where open-border policies have been the norm. Utilizing field technologies to confirm identities and cross-reference individuals with watch lists are tools that many agencies are deploying to boost border security.
Rebuilding Community Trust: Globally there is diminished trust and confidence in government and law enforcement having all of the answers. Rebuilding that trust amidst the current health crisis, growing crime rates, and civil unrest may be the biggest challenge of our times. This is where management can make a difference with minimal fiscal investments. Transparency is key and starts with demonstrating how information is legally accessed, securely managed, and analyzed. There is also a need to showcase the impact these investments are making by closing the loop with your constituents—perhaps through townhalls, social media, or other inter-community communications—shining the spotlight on the hard work law enforcement teams are doing to keep make their communities safer.
Solving the Economic Crunch: Economies worldwide have been impacted by this confluence of a health crisis, business shutdowns and individual quarantine mandates. All this disruption has placed a tremendous strain on resources, and government cutbacks on police budgets and staff (in some cases) are inevitable. Recently, public cries to redistribute police funding is forcing agencies to take a hard look at how they can be more effective and efficient for the short-, mid-, and long-term.
In the near-term, it’s all about making the most of existing infrastructure along with targeted investments in DI technology to manage more with less. In the mid-term, it’s about adding value to systems to boost efficiency and effectiveness while staying on budget. Longer-term, it’s about planning for and building the critical capabilities of current systems, processes, and people to equip your teams in what is now the age of digital policing.
Cellebrite has a team of world-class experts that partner with key stakeholders in the investigation workflow and aid in assessing agency environments. Here’s how the company typically works with customers to understand their needs and provide a clear path forward to address short and long-term challenges.
Defining the Path Forward
There are three steps that can be taken to begin to understand where the agency is on the path to being digital intelligence ready.
1. Assess Capabilities
Assessing your agency’s digital policing capabilities is the first step we take together to ensure you are leveraging the resources you have in place (people, processes, systems) to the best of your ability. We start by asking:
Who in your agency handles digital data/evidence outside of the forensics lab?
- How much of your work are manual processes and how much can be automated?
- How does your agency share information with key stakeholders throughout the investigation process?
2. Increase Readiness
Step two is looking at ways in which your digital intelligence capabilities can be increased. Some of these may require putting a better process in place to access, manage, and analyze data to render actionable intelligence. Key questions to ask at this point are:
- What level of training exists in your agency around digital evidence handling?
- Are you able to review digital evidence from every case?
- Do you have accurate statistics on your team’s workloads to justify staffing needs and the funding of DI technology?
3. Establish A Realistic Action Plan
Anyone can throw an action plan together. But putting a plan in place that’s realistic and measurable in terms of process changes, staffing, digital intelligence solutions, training, timing, and budget takes careful consideration. This is where it’s critical to ask:
- Are your standard operating procedures up to date?
- What does your backlog look like?
- Is your investigation team able to readily review data from computers, mobile devices, and the cloud as part of your investigation workflow?
- How seamlessly and securely is collaboration happening from the field - to the lab – by the investigators and prosecutors to expedite cases that involves digital data?
No one knows exactly when the era of COVID-19 will subside. While some may look at the months ahead with uncertainty, smart agency managers are using this time to retool, retrain, and reposition where they want to be when the world returns to a more normal way of life, knowing that the “new normal” may require advancing initiatives once thought to be years away.
*Editor’s note: This is the final in a three-part series about the current state of law enforcement due to the pandemic and how to best leverage forensic technology in this time of crisis. Yossi Carmil is the Chief Executive Officer of Cellebrite and serves on the company’s board of directors. He brings more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership, global sales, and business development. Prior to joining Cellebrite, Yossi held a senior business strategy consulting role at Bain and Company and served as the VP of Commercial for Siemens LTD.