Mapping Location Data and IP Investigations for Police

***NOTE: Student is required to bring their own laptop

While call detail records have helped investigations in the past by showing cellular towers accessed by a device, new trends have emerged to obtain more precise location information for your investigations. Police location data now comes from many sources including:

• Google Geofence
• Cellular Geofence
• Advertiser ID Geofence
• Google User Accounts
• Location approximation from cellular companies
• Snapchat
• Facebook
• Vehicle location data

The location data comes in a raw format that can be confusing to understand. This class will provide hands-on training in new tools that allow you to visualize location data without being a technical expert. This class will go through different cases studies using various sources of location data to become proficient in tracking a cellular device.

In addition, new techniques such as Google Geofence warrants will be covered from the initial obtaining of the information with a search warrant to the mapping of the data.

What does an online threat of school violence, a classified ad in a fraud investigation or a VOIP (Voice-Over-IP) phone number used to commit an offense all have in common? IP (Internet Protocol) addresses can all be used to investigate and identify your suspect in those cases.

It doesn’t matter what type of offense you investigate, at some point you will need to understand how IP addresses are used on the internet and mobile devices and how you can step through an investigation to identify your suspect.

IP addresses are connected to multiple sources of data that can show up in your investigations:

• Email addresses
• Mobile device apps
• Website visits and account creations
• Social Media accounts
• Classified Ad Accounts (Ebay, OfferUp, Craigslist, etc
• VOIP (Voice-Over-IP) telephone numbers

We will take an interactive look at walking through investigations from start to finish and understanding each step of the investigative process. We will look at numerous types of offenses and how IP data can be used to investigate them.

Students will finish the class with a solid understanding of how IP addresses work on the internet, how they can be used to investigate crimes and feel competent through the completion of practical scenarios in using these new tools with their agency.

In addition, students will be shown examples of legal process needed to follow the clues developed in their IP investigations.

These mapping techniques have been used on cold case murders, robbery, burglary and fraud offenses where you have no known suspect or a person of interest. Law enforcement employees to include detectives, crime analysts and sworn officers, supervisors and prosecutors can benefit from this training. Students must be affiliated with a law enforcement agency.

Basic Microsoft Office types of skills in Windows are all that are needed to be successful with these new types of location data and training.

Aaron is a police detective working for a law enforcement agency in the suburbs of northern Texas. For over 23 years, Aaron has served as a patrol officer, neighborhood police officer, Emergency Services Unit Intel Officer and as a detective working crimes against persons. Aaron has a strong technical background that started outside of police work and has contributed to his unique approaches to solving law enforcement problems. This combination of skills has led to the successful identification and apprehension of numerous suspects in complex criminal investigations and missing person cases.

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