Home » Job Profiles » Government » City - Police Department Computer Forensics Investigator

City - Police Department Computer Forensics Investigator

The police department computer forensics investigator working for the city police has the job of finding data that may be hidden or may be believed to be located on computer equipment. The computer investigator may be called to work on the computer at a specific location or may have the computer brought to his or her lab if it has been seized as evidence to a crime. Depending on the type of crime that may have been committed using technology computer forensics investigators may also be called on to work on memory cards in fax machines, PDAs, cell phones, Blackberries or other telecommunication devices.

Many criminals mistakenly believe that all information can be completely erased from a hard drive. A forensics computer investigator can find parts and bits of information on hard drives, memory cards and even in cache memory using various recovery programs and advance programming knowledge. In addition the computer forensics investigator may be able to reconstruct damaged hard drives that could allow evidence to the located. They may also work on encryption programs or hidden files that criminals may use to try to protect information that has been stored on the computer.

Most computer forensics investigators are trained police or peace officers with specific training in computers. They may also have computing science degrees or may have been recruited for the police for their computer skills. Computer forensics investigator will be required to testify in court and explain to juries how the information was obtained from the computer and how the information is relevant as evidence.

Common work activities include:

• Obtaining the various pieces of technical equipment that needs to be examined for evidence.
• Maintaining the chain of evidence record in examining the various computers and telecommunication devices.
• Physically inspecting, fixing, repairing or modifying the equipment to allow data retrieval.
• Running various software programs on the evidence to attempt to extract necessary evidence and information.
• Writing reports indicating the findings and detailing methods and procedures used in gathering the evidence.
• Testifying in court as required regarding computer based evidence.
• Providing professional development training and in-service on computer investigation to other police officers.

Check out all of the online criminal justice degrees offered by a variety of schools offering programs online in criminal justice.

Programs related to City - Police Department Computer Forensics Investigator careers