RCFL Network Launches 9th Laboratory

Washington, DC -- The Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (NWRCFL) officially opened today in Portland, Oregon. The NWRCFL will supply digital forensics expertise and training to hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout all of Oregon and southwestern Washington. The NWRCFL is the ninth laboratory to join a national network of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affiliated digital evidence facilities. Five additional RCFLs are scheduled to open by the end of 2006 in cities around the country.

RCFLs are one-stop, full-service digital evidence laboratories and training centers that are devoted entirely to the examination of digital evidence in support of local, state, and federal criminal investigations, as well as detecting and preventing acts of terrorism. The FBI's Operational Technology Division (OTD) provides training, laboratory operating procedures and principles, technical support, equipment, and certification to RCFL Examiner trainees, and assumes a majority of the start-up costs, including acquisition of the space and site build-out expenditures. Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies partner with the FBI by assigning personnel to work as RCFL Examiners, and have agency executives represented on the RCFL's Executive Board, which manages the RCFL. The NWRCFL's participating agencies include the Oregon State Police; Washington County Sheriff's Office; Multnomah County Sheriff's Office; Portland Police Bureau; Hillsboro Police Department; Beaverton Police Department; Gresham Police Department; and the FBI.

Kerry E. Haynes, Assistant Director of the FBI's OTD stated, "With the opening of the NWRCFL, we have successfully extended our reach across the Northwestern region of the country. Starting today, hundreds of law enforcement agencies in Oregon and Washington State will have direct access to first-class digital forensics expertise and training. With every new RCFL, law enforcement's ability to investigate and solve a whole range of crimes as well as the detection and prevention of terrorism is significantly strengthened."

Digital forensics is the application of science and engineering to the recovery of digital evidence in a legally acceptable manner. RCFL Forensics Examiners apply their skills on a variety of digital devices such as computers, personal digital assistants, cell phones, and video cameras. Examiners are trained to extract information that may serve as evidence in a criminal or terrorism investigation.