CSI Internet?; Secret Service To Open National Computer Forensics Institute

High-tech training is increasingly important for police officers, detectives, and federal agents as crime continues its migration onto the electronic byways of the Internet. Unfortunately, the level of training offered to law enforcement is "diverse," as the Secret Service delicately puts it. To better educate US crime fighters, the Service has announced the creation of the National Computer Forensic Institute to provide training and forensic services to officers from across the country. The new facility will be built not in Silicon Valley or in Washington, DC, but in Hoover, Alabama, with the state kicking in a few million dollars in construction funding to help lure the center. It will initially be staffed by 18 Secret Service agents and will feature classrooms, a forensic laboratory, an evidence vault, and server rooms. Courses will be offered in the investigation of electronic crimes, network intrusion investigation, and computer forensics.