Room 218 Case Study

Over time, technology has impacted the police and other law enforcement agencies with new devices for gathering evidence. These new tools have caused constitutional questions to surface. One particular case in Oregon of an individual (DLK) aroused such question. DLK was suspected of growing marijuana inside of his home. Agents used a thermal imager to scan DLK’s residence form the outside. The results indicated heat, just like the kind that is generated by special lights used for growing marijuana indoors. Constructed by the scan, a judge issued a search warrant. A warrant – a legal paper authorizing a search – cannot be issued unless there is

This Application and Affidavit are made to obtain authority to search the premises described below:

On Wednesday, at approximately 8:24AM, I, Officer Larry Thomas (206), responded to the Central Building Room 413-4A , in reference to a code blue medical call.

Ninth Circuit Court holds that an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy in their private office, because it is locked and not shared with others. This reasonable expectation of privacy extends to the contents of their office, including the employee’s company computer, located therein. As a result, the court held that the fourth amendment protects both the office and computer from warrantless searches by the government unless it obtains valid consent from either the defendant or one with common authority over the items searched, or proceeds on the authorization of one with apparent authority to give such valid consent. In this case, the Ninth Circuit holds that the government obtained valid consent from one with common authority over the items searched, when it received such consent from the employee’s employer. The employer had common authority over the employee’s office computer because it had a policy of, and regularly did, monitor employees’ computer usage of company machines, a policy of which its employees were made aware. The court accordingly denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence found by the government during its warrantless search of defendant’s office computer. As a result, pursuant to a plea agreement, defendant was convicted of the receipt of obscene material based, in part, on evidence obtained during this search. The evidence obtained during this search, and by the company earlier, showed that defendant had viewed and had possession of

by him/ her in this search warrant and Affidavit and in the attached and incorporated statement of probable cause are true and that based there on he/she has probable cause to believe and does believe that the property and or person described below is lawfully seize able pursuant to penal code 1524, as indicated below, and is now located at the location set forth below.

Along the Little Miami river lays an unincorporated community called Kings Mills, Ohio. To put it into perspective this community lies less than a mile east of Kings Island, the renowned amusement park. Kings Mills is home to many urban legends, spook stories, and haunts. Many of which can be googled however, this one cannot.

Identifying evidence is the first stage in the process. A laptop, computer monitor, and hard drive are all pieces of evidence that are usually located first. It is critical for the investigator who is identifying and collecting evidence to know what else to look for. Other items that should be identified and collected as possible evidence include external hard drives, floppy discs, CD’s, USB drives, and memory cards. If the investigator isn’t aware what all falls into the category of digital evidence, it is possible that vital evidence may not be collected (Cosic, 2011).

Based on the information from the informant, the police started an investigation and eventually submitted an affidavit requesting a warrant to search three residences and automobiles. A facially valid search warrant was issued and pursuant to the warrant the police conducted their search. Leon (defendant) and the other defendants filed motions to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the search and the district court granted the motions, holding that the affidavit did not establish probable cause. The United States Supreme Court granted

West Middle School is an institution with the mascot of Vikings and colors of blue and white operating under the Columbia Public School system. It is located on Clinkscales Road, just a few blocks off West Broadway. There it serves a myriad of students from different backgrounds. When you see the kids stream from the building after the final bell at 2:30, the diversity is easily recognized. You have the potential of seeing a fresh haircut on a kid from an upper middle-class family with a pair of bright white Nike Air Jordan or a girl with stringy hair and grimy Wal-Mart shoes from an impoverished household.

When was the last time she accessed her computer? What is her background in computers, what is her skill level? I need some background on the former employee, her computer habits and activities prior to the files being found on her computer. I must collect digital evidence while keeping the data unaltered, first thing. This data will be used later in the prosecution of the case. This can be done through calculating and recording an evidence file. Next is imaging of the computer media with a write-blocking tool. I must keep the chain of custody. The computer's RAM is examined for evidence. During the examination step, verify and catalog the presence and integrity of the original evidence and any copies. An analysis is made with specialized equipment to find out exactly what's stored on the digital media. This includes a manual review of all materials found on the media, a review of the Windows registry, techniques to crack passwords and retrieve protected data, keyword searches and extraction of email and pictures for further review.

R.v. Colarusso (1994) states that “the citizen’s right to have a reasonable expectation of privacy.” In digital evidence, our cellphone and personal computer are considered as having a very high expectation of privacy, so search warrant or consent to search are usually required when search such devices. However, it is suggested that the degree of privacy is lessened where a personal computer has been brought to a repair shop by R. v. Graham (2010). So a computer technician can make a copy of clients’ data and give it to police officer to inspect without warrant or consent. In some other situation, like devices searched by incident to arrest or under plain view, search warrant is still required for inspection, even if devices are already in police officer’s

In support of this application for a search and seizure warrant your Affiant Detective being duly sworn attests to the following _Mr. Fox of 120 Verlinden Drive is growing and distributing marijuana.

Digital forensics has been responsible for putting away thousands and thousands of criminals. Ranging from simple crime computer crimes to child pornography. To get quality evidence that can be admissible in court there are steps that are needed in preparing a computer investigation. There are also requirements for data recovery, as well as procedures for corporate investigations. “Digital forensics has become prevalent because law enforcement recognizes that modern day life includes a variety of digital devices that can be exploited for criminal activity, not just computer systems. While computer forensics tends to focus on specific methods for extracting evidence from a particular platform, digital forensics must be modeled such that it can encompass all types of digital devices, including future digital technologies” (Reith, Carr, and Gunsch, 2002).

Computer hard disks act as back-up and storage for materials, financial details from sales and phone and email contacts for users of child pornographic materials. Therefore, the search warrant need include the hard disk and other external memories that may hold any incriminating information on the behavior of suspected child perverts. These back-ups provide vital information that may serve as evidence against suspected dealers, users, possessors and transmitters of child related porn materials (Foster, 2005). They further hold a key to the financial dealings involving porn materials.

Some of the most important procedures used in collection of information to be used in a court of law include collecting live data from the RAMs images. Such live recovery of information can be collected from the F-Response which can collect data from the networks of a computer. Information can be collected when the computer is logged on or connected to the network or when the computer is executing (Carrier, 2006, p. 56). The other procedure that can be used in the collection of information for forensic purposes is the encryption of hard disks. Encryption of the hard disk creates logical images that can be collected using the F-Response (Eoghan & Gerasimos, 2008, p. 95). The other important procedure for collection of information is making sure that all data storage devices are kept away from magnets and any other devices that might destroy data stored in them. It is important that the handling individuals obtain the information collection manuals that help them collect information effectively (Eoghan & Gerasimos, 2008, p. 94).