Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of a report examining the operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Intermountain West Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (IWRCFL) located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The FBI operates 17 regional computer forensic laboratories for the purpose of providing federal, state, and local law enforcement partners with forensic examinations and training and education relating to computer related crime.
The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the IWRCFL’s performance was generally efficient and effective, and partnering agencies were satisfied with the service received, although we also identified opportunities to improve the IWRCFL’s management of its training program, and also the self-service kiosks that law enforcement personnel use to process digital evidence from cell phones, DVDs, and other loose media.
The specific findings in the report released today include:
- IWRCFL performance was generally efficient and effective: According to IWRCFL officials, it met all of its performance goals for fiscal year (FY) 2016, and all but one performance goal for FYs 2017, 2018, and 2019. The performance goals not met were goals to increase staffing, upgrade a phone system, and in FY 2019, maintain minimal backlog and aging requests.
- IWRCFL training program: IWRCFL conducted 44 presentations and 6 training courses for law enforcement personnel from FY 2016 through 2019. However, IWRCFL officials were unable to locate attendance sheets for two of the six training courses and, as a result, we were unable to verify attendance for the two training courses.
- Kiosk Services: The FBI Digital Evidence Policy Guide requires self-paced or hands-on training prior to use of a Cell Phone Investigative Kiosk (CPIK) or a Loose Media Kiosk (LMK). However, we found that during our audit the kiosks at the IWRCFL did not always include a training certification question asking users to confirm that they met training requirements. In addition, in August 2019 after inadvertently installing a newer version of the CPIK software, the CPIK stopped capturing usage, meaning that the IWRCFL had no record of who had used the CPIK. As of October 2019, both issues with the CPIK were resolved at the IWRCFL. However, the FBI was not aware if this problem was occurring at other RCFLs.
Today’s report makes six recommendations to the FBI to improve the IWRCFL’s operations. The FBI agreed with all six recommendations.