Criminal Intelligence Unit - Computer Crimes Section

The Computer Crimes Unit was established in June 2001. The CCU provides technical and investigative expertise:

• In computer crime investigations where a computer or computer system is the target of the criminal activity or utilized to further any crime or incident

The Computer Crimes Unit consists of two sworn members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and two civilian computer forensics specialists. This unit investigates in cases encompassing a wide variety of criminal offenses, including adult entertainment crimes, aggravated menacing, internet fraud, harassment, intelligence, child pornography, rape, robbery, exploitation of minors, spam, terroristic threatening, theft, and unauthorized access to computers. In addition, the Computer Crimes Unit is often called upon for technical assistance. This included training other officers in detecting potential sources of high technology evidence as well as properly securing this evidence until further analysis could be performed.

The primary responsibility of the Computer Crimes Unit is forensic examination of computer media. These forensic examinations are utilized for a variety of different crimes, including child pornography, fraud, homicide, drug related crimes, sexual assault/rape, and illegal access of a computer system. In addition to the hard drives examined, investigations also include the examination of other computer media such as cellular telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), CD ROMS, Zip Disks, Memory Sticks, Tape Drives, and Floppy Disks
Additionally, this section provides this assistance to other State, Local, and Federal law enforcement agencies as well.