Police Units Specialize in Forensics Reviews of Smartphones, Tablets

Police in the Washington, D.C., area are performing a fast-rising number of investigations and forensics reviews of smartphones, according to a review of police reports by the News4 I-Team. Those investigations, which often include a review of a criminal suspect’s text messages and photos, have increased demand for forensics specialists and allowed local police to break a series of recent cases.

The I-Team’s review found Virginia state police performed 245 forensic reviews of cellphones and tablets in the past two years, a 25 percent increase from 2010-11. Maryland State Police’s Computer Crimes Unit, which also reviews the contents of portable electronic devices, performed 188 investigations into phones or tablets in the past two years, also an increase from prior years.

D.C.’s Department of Forensic Sciences has just opened a new “digital evidence unit” to clear a swelling backlog of requests for cellphone forensic analyses. The unit is run by Paul Reedy, a former computer forensics specialist for the Australian Federal Police. Reedy said demand for forensic review of smartphones is growing exponentially.

“Phones can provide all manner of evidence,” he said. “Phones are ubiquitous in modern life, and no matter what happens, no matter what a person is doing, whether it’s an innocuous daily task or engaging in something they shouldn’t be doing, there is going to be a phone present.”

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