WILLMAR -- The Willmar Police Department received preliminary approval Monday from the Willmar City Council's Finance Committee to spend $7,500 for a forensic computer to assist officers investigating criminal cases involving digital equipment.
The committee's action will be considered by the council on Nov. 7.
Police Chief Jim Kulset requested the specialty computer that will allow for processing of current digital technology encountered by officers. He said the 1998 computer now used by the department is no longer capable of recognizing current computer drive capacities.
Kulset said a forensic computer is used to extract information such as Internet provider addresses related to theft, fraud, pornography and drug investigations. The workstation would allow examination of digital data found on computer hard drives, removable drives, USB devices, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, flash drives and multi-media cards.
Kulset said everyone including the police department is moving toward digital devices. The inability to analyze digital information would be stepping backward in crime detection devices, and all digital evidence would become useless sources of information.
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"It would be one more tool,'' said Kulset. "We're in the digital age.''
City Finance Director Steven Okins recommended the money be taken from funds in the police department's unspent 2003 capital improvement budget. The money was unspent because the city had budgeted for replacement of three squad cars in 2003 but replaced only two.
-- David Little
