HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – The University of Southern Mississippi will use a new federal grant to help rural law enforcement officers across the country investigate crimes involving digital evidence.

A $3 million grant from the United States Department of Justice is helping establish the Scalable Rural Digital Forensics Initiative.

Students, faculty and staff from forensic science, computer science and other disciplines will be involved in this project.

“The initiative is really two-pronged,” said Brent Hale, assistant professor in the USM School of Media and Communication. “So we have a plan to build a digital forensics lab here on campus, one where we can process digital forensics like cell phones, laptops, things like that, so we can get to the materials. inside digital devices.

“Then beyond that, the second part is creating training materials that will be used nationally for law enforcement officers to better understand digital forensics and how it can be used to solve crimes.”

The grant covers a four-year period and comes from the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Assistance.

Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click Here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Copyright 2024 WDAM. All rights reserved.