Law enforcers seek to keep pace with high-tech crimes

Kim Smith

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

MESQUITE -- The GIFs were found on the slack of the FAT table.

It may sound like gobbledygook, but it's not. Pedophiles know what it means and so do computer experts. Unfortunately, too few police officers, prosecutors and judges know what it means, though.

But if Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has her way, Nevada's legal pundits will know that and far more about high-tech crimes.

On Wednesday and continuing through Friday, 50 people involved in the criminal justice system, from FBI agents to prosecutors to forensic technicians, are meeting in Mesquite to discuss the investigation and prosecution of computer-related crimes.

Experts predict that by 2005, more than 50 percent of crimes will be committed by people using technology, Reno Detective Sgt. Todd Shipley said. That being the case, people in the criminal justice system need to get ahead of the learning curve when it comes to technology, he said.

Shipley is just one of the people scheduled to speak at the High Tech Crimes Conference, sponsored by the Nevada Prosecution Advisory Council.

Also attending the conference was Chief Deputy Attorney General Kevin Higgins, a legal advisor for the Nevada High Technology Crime Task Force, a division within the attorney general's office created during the 1999 legislative session.

Today's criminals may be committing the same old crimes, but they are committing them in new ways that pose an extraordinary challenge to law enforcement officers and prosecutors, Higgins said. As a result, people in the criminal justice system need to, more than ever, combine their knowledge and resources.

There are a variety of issues that need to be addressed, Higgins said. What constitutes a high-tech crime? What resources are needed? Who should investigate the crimes, the federal government? The state? Local law enforcement? Should police officers be specially certified to investigate such crimes? How much training should attorneys and judges get?

By holding conferences such as this one, Higgins said these issues can be addressed and members of the task force can meet with legislators with the facts and figures needed for future legislation.

One of the debates going on right now, Higgins said, is whether someone who superimposes an adult's head onto a child's nude body and then transmits the photo over the Internet is guilty of a crime. Or what about the Arizona man who posed as his former girlfriend and placed Internet ads seeking men to fulfill her sadomasochistic fantasies. Is he guilty of a crime?

What about the issue of privacy? Should people be allowed to find out where you own property and who your neighbors are by paying a small fee? Should Amazon.com be allowed to keep track of what books you've purchased as part of a marketing campaign?

Then there's the matter of investigating the crimes, Higgins said. The officers need to know how the computers actually work not only so they can retrieve information from them, but so they can testify in a way the jury and judge will understand. Writing search warrants and obtaining subpoenas are also tricky because of the complexities involved, he said.

Moreover, defense attorneys are finding ways to challenge the evidence that has been gathered in such cases, Shipley said. For example, some are arguing that online stings violate some states' wiretap laws.

With words like "gifs" and "slack" being tossed around the courtroom and abstract legal concepts being debated, judges need to educate themselves as well, Higgins said.

The gifs were found on the slack of the fat table means that picture files (graphical interchange formats) were found in an empty space (slack) of the computer's file allocation table (fat), Higgins said. The fat is basically a hidden menu for the computer. Pedophiles typically hide child pornography in the file allocation table because it isn't easily accessed.

Although the task force met for the first time in October, Higgins said an informal task force made up of prosecutors and law enforcement officers began meeting three years ago.

"We're actually ahead of a lot of states because we're meeting and talking about high-tech crimes," Higgins said. "But resource-wise, things are pretty tight. Some states may only talk about this type of crime for five minutes, but the resources are there."

This year's task force budget of $80,000 is primarily for the task force's executive director's salary, plus travel and public education costs, Higgins said.

Among the literature handed out Wednesday were brochures offering advice to parents and business owners about Internet safety.

Shipley said getting the extra training needed is the "most important thing law enforcement will be doing this century" because of the rapid growth in high-tech crimes.

Unfortunately, people just weren't prepared to listen a few years ago and now people such as pedophiles have learned how to destroy evidence.

"I couldn't get enough people to fill a Volkswagen Bug to talk about this stuff five years ago because nobody cared," Shipley said.

Michael McCormick, executive director of the Prosecution Advisory Council, said he hopes the conference will be an annual event.

"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," McCormick said. "There are so many lawyers, judges and law enforcement officers that are not aware and we want to get them trained on at least the basics of it."