Gun, badge, laptop: Anoka deputies tap mobile tech to solve crimes

Criminals these days are more likely to leave behind digital fingerprints than real ones. And when cops pursue them, they're as likely to need a laptop as a firearm.

That's the reality of 21st century policing. That's why it makes perfect sense to find Anoka County Sheriff's Office Detective Pat O'Hara taking apart a cellphone in the back of what used to be an ambulance but what is now the state's first mobile digital forensics lab.

"We have some specialized software that will help us narrow down our searches," he said as he showed off the vehicle, which has been stripped down and refitted with $5,000 in high-speed Internet, high-power laptops, hard drives and all kinds of plugs and connectors.

It's meant to meet the need to quickly gather evidence from smartphones and other technology that's become so integral to our lives, and our crimes. It hit the road last week.

"Say this is a picture case," O'Hara said, "where we may have some child pornography going on, where I can narrow down the data, that I just want to look at the pictures, I can weed out all the rest."

This is the way O'Hara might start investigating a criminal case. Increasingly, he said, the signature elements of a crime are digital.

"You still will have your traditional fingerprints, DNA. That's not going away," he said. "But you're talking cell phones now, that's almost better than DNA. Somebody's got their phone on them 24-7. They're always updating their social media, they're making phone calls, making texts. All that stuff, basically, it's in every crime."

Digital evidence was a key factor in solving several recent high-profile crimes.

Investigators arrested the father of Barway Collins after they say they tracked his cellphone to the riverbank where the boy's body was recovered, weeks after the 10-year-old from Crystal disappeared.

Anoka County authorities tracked two missing 13-year-old girls to a Burnsville man's apartment last year with the help of an iPod one of the girls had left at home.

And getting out of the office is important, because speed is often of the essence, said Brian Podany, commander of the criminal investigative division of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.

O'Hara says going mobile can also help solve another problem: There's often too much evidence.

"Just a few years ago, we'd go to a scene and maybe they would have one phone in the house, one computer. And that's just not the case anymore," he said. "We're going out and there's dozens of devices now. And to kind of steer the investigation or eliminate things, or follow other leads, we need that information immediately."

The mobile digital forensics lab debuts at a time when Minnesota is hotly debating the intersection of data and law enforcement.

The Legislature set new rules for license plate readers and debated body cams in recent weeks. And data breaches like the Target break-in have the public more sensitive than ever about digital privacy.

Podany says all the legal protections for the public still apply, even on wheels. His investigators still need a search warrant, someone's permission, or another legal basis to look at data. His officers can't snoop into your cellphone or listen to your calls if you just walk by.

"This isn't a surveillance vehicle," Podany said. "This is fully marked. It's not a secret if this is on a scene. It's marked squad car, in essence, but it's also something that we're trying to improve the services that we're providing the public."

That service also may include getting someone's phone back in their purse or pocket as quickly as possible.

Podany says his department hopes the mobile lab will make witnesses or victims more willing to share evidence they might have been reluctant to divulge in the past.

"If we're able to do a field exam on something, and recover whatever it is we're looking for, we're generally more likely to get cooperation from people because people don't want to do without their devices," he added. "That's really their lifeline now to the world."