Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Amanda | Delivered December 4, 2019

Digital Forensics Software

Goals

To identify the personnel or department responsible for making purchasing decisions when procuring management and digital forensics software for law enforcement agencies.

Early Findings

Federal, state, and local enforcement agencies can individually seek to purchase case management and digital forensics software for their law enforcement agencies and various bodies and departments are responsible at various jurisdictions. 
There are also several grants available to law enforcement agencies at various levels towards acquiring case management and digital forensics software.

Making purchasing decisions and compiling selection criteria are usually done internally, and are hardly publicly disclosed. However, we were able to identify some insights into the procurement process of a few cities.
In Michigan, the city police chief and the prosecutor’s office are responsible for creating the criteria and seeking funding for the digital forensics unit in the city. 
In New York City, acquiring new technology for the New York Police Department (NYPD) falls within the purview of the Information Technology Bureau (ITB). The bureau is headed by the Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology, Jessica Tisch.