Crimes involving computers and the internet have escalated rapidly in the last few years as would be expected with the proliferation of personal computers and access to the internet.

West Palm Beach Detective Tom McCauley has been trained in investigating computer crimes. He has been certified as a Forensics Computer Examiner through The International Associates of Computer Investigator Specialists and has attended The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's "Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist" training program. He is one of only two such investigators in our county. The other investigator is with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

WPBPD has achieved the goal of a fully functional on-premise lab. As Det. McCauley notes, the lab is in an ever changing state as new hardware, software and procedures become available.

People often ask if our agency investigates hacker crimes. Depending on the specifics of the hacking, this activity is generally investigated by either the FBI, Secret Services or the U.S. Army.

Det. McCauley tells me that one of the most distressing and pervasive computer crime involves child pornography. Besides child pornography, Tom has successfully investigated internet fraud after pinpointing that the crime occurred in West Palm Beach. For example, say a person ordered and paid for an item over the internet but never received it. If that person's check was cashed by the "seller" in a bank located in West Palm Beach, that crime may fall under our jurisdiction. Determining what agency investigates internet crime can be confusing, in part because of the many different jurisdictions that may be involved.