The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office is hosting the seventh annual National Cyber Crime Conference (NCCC) on April 23–25, 2018, in Norwood, Massachusetts.  The NCCC has distinguished itself as one of the premier annual cyber training events for law enforcement, offering hundreds of individual training sessions at a cost-effective price for law enforcement.  At the 2018 NCCC, police personnel, prosecutors, and forensic examiners will take part in three full days of training that will help them face the challenges posed by digital evidence and technology in their criminal investigations.  The standard registration fee is $350 (the first 100 individuals to register get a discounted price of $300), and the registration deadline is Friday, April 13, 2018.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) offers training and technical assistance (TTA) to law enforcement agencies to enhance their capabilities to analyze and use data to make informed decisions, respond effectively, and prevent crime.  BJA NTTAC’s TTA resources address analytical gaps and needs for crime analysts and law enforcement personnel.  Crime Analysis on Demand is just one example of the range of TTA assistance that BJA NTTAC provides to state, local, and tribal agencies.  Some examples of the types of assistance BJA NTTAC supports under the Crime Analysis on Demand TTA are conducting a needs assessment to determine analytical gaps and needs; developing and presenting recommendations for addressing the identified gaps and needs; and providing comprehensive training for crime analysts. 

If you or your agency is facing a unique criminal justice need, BJA NTTAC may be able to provide support for TTA services. For more information, visit www.bjatraining.org and click “Request Training and Technical Assistance” to complete the brief, online TTA request form.

Rapid DNA, or Rapid DNA analysis, is a term used to describe the fully automated (hands-free) process of developing a DNA profile from a reference sample buccal (cheek) swab without human intervention.  The goal of the FBI’s Rapid DNA initiative is to link FBI-approved commercial instruments capable of producing a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) core loci DNA profile within two hours within the existing CODIS infrastructure in order to search unsolved crimes of special concern while a qualifying arrestee is in police custody during the booking process.

The FBI Laboratory Division has been working with the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division and the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (CJIS APB) Rapid DNA Task Force to plan the effective integration of Rapid DNA into the booking station process.  The FBI anticipates that testing of components will begin in 2019.  Integration into the booking process of states authorized to collect DNA samples at arrest, as well as into the federal system, will follow.

Without the powerful resources of N-DEx, the investigation would have likely ended with misdemeanor charges on only two of the four subjects.

~Detective, Southaven Police Department

In early 2017, a cell phone store in Southaven, Mississippi, reported a larceny after four individuals entered the store and stole $400 from an unsecured cash drawer. Although the theft was a misdemeanor, command staff at the Southaven, Mississippi, Police Department investigated and publicized the case in an effort to dissuade others from similar crimes. The group struck again and two subjects were apprehended after a brief pursuit, but they refused to provide any information about their accomplices. Working with only basic identifiers gathered during booking, a detective with the Southaven Police Department began to query the FBI’s National Data Exchange (N-DEx) System. Within an hour, he linked the two subjects in custody with a short list of suspects who fit the descriptions of the other two accomplices. The N-DEx System records led the detective to commercial theft reports involving the same subjects from New York, Virginia, and Georgia. As the suspect pool was further narrowed, he confirmed the identities of all four subjects and strengthened his case with a history of reports gathered from previous arrests. As a result of information sharing, the subjects were also identified as responsible for felony thefts and robberies in Tennessee and Alabama, effectively shutting down a multistate commercial theft ring.

The National Association for Justice Information Systems (NAJIS) Board has issued a Call for Presentations for the 36th Annual NAJIS Conference to be held in Boulder, Colorado, on October 8–11, 2018.  

The mission of NAJIS is to provide educational opportunities and resources to local- and state-level justice information sharing practitioners and system users to improve justice and public safety in the United States.

NAJIS is looking for presenters in several key areas such as breaking down information sharing barriers, digital evidence management, identifying online predators, improving our criminal history data, improving firearms background checks through information sharing, and emerging technologies to address criminal justice issues.  A complete list of focus areas is available via the link below.  Practitioners are welcome to submit additional topics of interest to the board for consideration.  The deadline for presentation submittal is May 15, 2018.