Gazette - Latest research in law enforcement

ON THE LEADING EDGE

The following are excerpts from recent research related to justice and law enforcement. To access the full reports, please visit the website links at the bottom of each summary.

Guidelines on cell phone forensics

By Wayne Jansen and Rick Ayers
National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.)

Mobile phone forensics is the science of recovering digital evidence from a mobile phone under forensically sound conditions using accepted methods. When a cell phone is encountered during an investigation, many questions arise: What should be done about maintaining power? How should the phone be handled? How should valuable or potentially relevant data contained on the device be examined?

This guide provides basic information on the preservation, acquisition, examination, analysis, and reporting of digital evidence on cell phones, relevant to law enforcement, incident response, and other types of investigations. The guide focuses mainly on the characteristics of cell phones, including smart phones having advanced capabilities. It also covers provisions to be taken into consideration during the course of an incident investigation.

The objective of the guide is twofold: to help organizations evolve appropriate policies and procedures for dealing with cell phones, and to prepare forensic specialists to contend with new circumstances involving cell phones, when they arise. Organizations should use this guide as a starting point for developing a forensic capability in conjunction with extensive guidance provided by legal advisors, officials and management.

The situation with forensic software tools for cell phones is considerably different from personal computers. While personal computers are designed as general-purpose systems, cell phones are designed more as special-purpose appliances that perform a set of predefined tasks. Cellular phone manufacturers also tend to rely on assorted proprietary operating systems rather than the more standardized approach found in personal computers.

Digital evidence by its very nature is extremely fragile, especially that found on cell phones. A phone’s contents and the evidence it contains can be affected or even lost any time it is on. It may not be obvious when an investigation is initiated that court action may ensue. Important evidence might be overlooked, improperly handled or accidentally destroyed before the seriousness of the incident is realized.

Whatever the type of incident, the various types of roles involved are similar. They include first responders, investigators, technicians, forensic examiners, forensic analysts and evidence custodians. Forensic professionals, especially first responders to incidents, should understand their roles and responsibilities for cell phone forensics and receive training and education on related forensic tools, policies, guidelines and procedures.

To access the full report (publication date May 2007), please visit :
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsSPs.html

Police and augmented reality technology

By Thomas J. Cowper and Michael E. Buerger

One of the 21st century’s emerging and potentially powerful technologies is augmented reality (AR). Sports fans view one popular use of AR technology each weekend: the major networks augment their coverage of professional football by superimposing yellow “first-down” lines over the gridiron. While not interactive, this is AR in its simplest form. Another easily recognizable form of AR technology is the heads-up display (HUD) used by fighter pilots.

Unlike virtual reality, where the user is totally immersed in a computer-generated virtual world, and augmented virtuality, where real-world objects are included as part of a virtual simulation, AR combines real and virtual objects and displays them in real time to an individual operating in the real environment in a way that is beneficial to accomplishing specific tasks or missions. Situational awareness is greatly improved, theoretically allowing one person equipped with AR technology to do the same amount of work as three unequipped individuals.

It will also afford criminals and terrorists new opportunities for exploiting, disrupting and harming society. In order to be used effectively, police personnel need to fully understand current AR capabilities and what will emerge in the coming decades.

The purpose of this research paper is to provide the policing profession an introductory source document and overview of AR. Fundamental principles and components of the technology are examined, along with research developments occurring today that have the potential to directly enhance individual human performance through the augmentation of reality. The implications of AR and some potential applications for its future use as a law enforcement tool are offered.

Some possible AR applications for policing include the following:

• Facial, voice-print and other biometric recognition data of known criminals to allow instantaneous identification
• Integration of chemical, biological and explosive sensors to immediately notify officers of any local contamination and recommend appropriate protective measures for themselves and the public
• Patrol car operator data and regional traffic management information on a heads-up display to make driving safer and more efficient, especially in pursuit and rapid response situations
• Advanced optics to provide zoom, thermal and infrared imaging for the location and apprehension of fleeing criminals, buried or concealed disaster survivors, or missing persons
• Advanced optics to allow investigators to lip-read from great distances in situations where listening devices are impractical
• Realistic training scenarios to simulate dangerous police environments while blending real-world equipment and fellow trainees into the scenario
• Supervision of critical incident response to include the monitoring of the physiological status of all personnel, permitting the assignment of dangerous tasks to those who are mentally and physically best able to perform

To access the full report (listed under the “law enforcement services” section), please visit : http://www.fbi.gov/publications.htm

National study on neck restraints in policing

By the Canadian Police Research Centre

Within Canada (and North America generally) there continues to be an increasing number of events in which police officers encounter subjects who are not responsive to standard law enforcement compliance control techniques. Typically, these subjects are under the influence of central nervous system stimulants or hallucinogens, which presents a challenging restraint and control problem for responding police officers.

Even considering the advancement of less lethal technologies such as the conducted energy device (TASER®) and other devices such as impact projectiles, it is clear that in many occasions officers are required to know and utilize effective empty-hand physical techniques to garner subject control. A vascular neck restraint (VNR) is an empty-hand control technique which does not rely upon the subject’s ability to feel and respond to pain stimulus to be effective.

Many Canadian police agencies have a vascular neck restraint control technique within the use-of-force framework. However, vascular neck restraints, like many other forms of police restraint, have been subject to intense public and media scrutiny. Controversy surrounding the use of neck holds in general has resulted in dramatic variance amongst police agencies with respect to policy, course training standards and lesson plans pertaining to the neck restraint.

A review of the legal history of the neck restraint in policing as well as previous medical literature shows that there is little agreement among professionals as to the risk of the neck restraint technique, the type of neck restraint that is “safest” and the threshold at which an officer can legally apply the technique.

As a result of these inconsistencies, the Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) was tasked with facilitating a review of the current research pertaining to neck restraints in the policing environment and thus the National Study on Neck Restraints in Policing was commissioned.

The intent of this review is to provide a multidisciplinary report evaluating police use of neck restraint, with specific attention to vascular neck restraint. Ultimately, the final report on neck restraints in policing provides a framework around which administrators can make informed decisions regarding the following:

• Evaluation of the current level of risk associated with police officers utilizing VNR
• Authorization of the use of VNR
• Development of policy on the use of VNR, including its position on the use-of-force continuum
• Draft training, certification and requalification policy
• Development of course training standards, plans and manuals
• Development of ongoing risk management strategies (data collection and analysis)

To access the full report (TR-03-2007), please visit :
http://www.cprc.org/index.cfm?sector=static&page=library