FBI opens digital forensics lab in New Mexico

RCFL facility

The FBI opened a new digital forensics laboratory on the grounds of the University of New Mexico aimed at providing support for federal, state, and local criminal and national security investigations.

The agency’s New Mexico Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (NMRCFL) is the second RCFL physically located on a university campus, and the sixteenth such facility in the FBI’s national network of full-service digital forensics laboratories and training centers, said the FBI on Dec. 6

RCFLs provide objective digital forensics expertise and services to law enforcement and are devoted to the examination of digital evidence in support of federal, state, and local criminal and national security investigations, it said. FBI Director Robert Mueller, chose the Albuquerque Division to receive the RCFL in 2008 because local law enforcement in the community demonstrated wide support for the facility and had a large pool of qualified personnel to staff it, said the FBI. The NMRCFL will be staffed with personnel from the FBI’s Albuquerque Division, the Albuquerque Police Department, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, New Mexico State Police, and the University of New Mexico, it said.

The NMRCFL staff had been using temporary workspace in the FBI’s Albuquerque Division during the laboratory’s construction since 2009. It received 838 requests for service from area law enforcement and conducted 842 digital forensics examinations, said the FBI. According to the agency, the NMRCFL’s top five customer requests by crime classification are cyber crime (45 percent), violent crime (25 percent), white-collar crime (24 percent), computer intrusions (6 percent), and counterintelligence (2 percent).

“With nearly every criminal investigation now involving some form of digital evidence, there is great need for highly skilled digital forensics examiners,” said Louis Grever, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Science and Technology Branch, which oversees the RCFL program.

Since the RCFL program began in 1999, said the FBI, demand for its services has grown exponentially. In addition to providing digital forensics expertise, the NMRCFL will train local law enforcement in various digital forensics techniques in their state-of-the art classroom. The laboratory also features a cell phone investigative kiosk where law enforcement can examine mobile phones and other handheld devices, along with a loose media kiosk to review evidentiary data on USB devices, CD/DVDs, etc. According to the agency, the self-serve resources are proven to enhance law enforcement’s ability to lawfully extract digital evidence quickly and efficiently.

The NMRCFL’s services are available to every law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in New Mexico, it said.