A bipartisan group of House members introduced the Technology in Criminal Justice Act, which would establish an Office of Digital Law Enforcement within the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The bill, introduced on November 22 by Reps. Val Demings, D-Fla., Conor Lamb, D-Penn., Brian Babin, R-Texas, and John Rutherford, R-Fla., would require DoJ to create the new office, a Center of Excellence for Digital Forensics, and a Technology Policy Advisory Board to support the department’s understanding of tech in policing. The bill would also create a grant program for state and local law enforcement agencies to better handle digital evidence.
“It is critical that law enforcement agencies ranging from the Federal level to local cities and towns have the tools and training needed to follow the evidence, physical or digital, wherever it leads,” said Demings.
The bill would also push to standardize training curricula for law enforcement on digital evidence, track the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to handle digital evidence, and report to Congress annually.
“It is time that our state and local law enforcement finally receive the training and resources necessary to adapt to the ever-evolving digital technologies to help ensure public safety in a 21st century America,” said Babin.