National Computer Forensics Institute expands in Hoover

Hoover, Shelby County, state and federal officials recently celebrated the opening of a seventh classroom at the National Computer Forensics Institute in Hoover.

The new 2,200-square-foot classroom will allow the institute to train an additional 1,000 to 1,500 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges from across the country in digital evidence, forensics and cybercrime investigations over the course of a year, said Brent Harlan, the special agent in charge for the U.S. Secret Service, which runs the institute.

In fiscal 2022, which ended Sept. 30, the institute trained almost 4,300 people, according to records provided by the Secret Service.

The institute in total gained about 5,500 square feet of space with this expansion, also adding eight administrative offices, a lobby and network server room, Harlan said. This expanded the institute’s total space in the Hoover Public Safety Center to about 40,000 square feet, he said.

The new space is in an area formerly occupied by the Hoover Revenue Department, which relocated. The city of Hoover’s building services staff demolished the old space and built the new classrooms and offices.

Shelby County contributed $250,000 toward the buildout and paid for Turner Batson Architects to handle the design work.

Harlan said he greatly appreciated the support from the city of Hoover and Shelby County to make this expansion happen, saying the construction project went seamlessly and was completed within a year.

“I’ve never seen something move so fast with multiple government entities involved,” Harlan said. “Very little red tape. Our biggest problem was supply chain issues like everyone is experiencing across the country.”

He’s also thankful for continued funding from the federal government.

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

Congress in 2014 almost doubled the annual budget for the institute from $4 million to $7.5 million and has increased funding to $42.9 million in fiscal 2022, records show. The amount of equipment, hardware and software that the institute has been able to put in the hands of law enforcement officials across the country last year crossed the $100 million mark since the institute’s inception in 2008, Harlan said.

As a result, the number of people trained per year has grown from 506 in 2013 to 4,279 in 2022, and the number of digital forensic exams conducted by graduates has grown from 13,445 to 156,548 in that same time period, records show.

“This program is not just a paper lion — something written down,” Harlan said. “It’s a real endeavor. It has real results, and we make an impact on communities across this nation.”

Barry Matson, executive director of the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services, which was instrumental in creation of the institute, said technology and digital devices have transformed society, and that has changed the way law enforcement and prosecutors approach solving criminal cases.

DNA evidence was a gamechanger in the prosecution of crimes, but DNA evidence is used in only a small portion of cases, Matson said. But with the introduction of smartphones and other new technology, “digital forensics are in everything,” Matson said. “Every case has a digital component now.”

With law enforcement officers and prosecutors from all over the country and every new Secret Service agent being trained in Hoover, “this is the most impactful law enforcement facility in this nation,” Matson said. “This is something everybody in this state, every person in this room should take pride in that this is here because it is impacting lives.”

People have been exonerated of crimes because digital evidence showed they didn’t commit the crimes, and people who have committed heinous crimes have been put in jail because digital evidence proved they did it, he said.

“There’s a lot of children and women that will never know abuse because the bad guy was stopped by someone who went through this place,” Matson said. “There are people who will be alive and have meaningful, incredibly productive lives because they didn’t suffer the sting of abuse or the sting of a violent crime because somebody went through this facility.”

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said the city is honored to have the institute in Hoover because of the great work that is done here to combat crime across the country.

The facility also has a great economic impact on the city, with more than 20,000 people from all 50 states and five U.S. territories being trained there since 2008, Brocato said. In fiscal 2022, the institute accounted for more than $2.5 million in hotel stays, nearly $2 million in meals and incidental spending and nearly $500,000 on transportation spending, and those numbers are expected to increase in 2023, according to the city.

U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, who represents Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District, said keeping the institute well funded is one of his top priorities. The economic impact on Hoover and surrounding areas is good, but the main reason is the role the institute plays in fighting crime across the country, Palmer said.

Also, the institute plays a big role in protecting the safety of the nation because of the training it provides on cybersecurity, Palmer said. There are thousands of cyberattacks being launched on the United States every minute, he said.

“I cannot overemphasize the importance of this facility and the work that they’re doing,” Palmer said.

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said plans already are being made to hopefully add three more classrooms, an auditorium and other ancillary space at the institute. The ultimate goal is to have 10 classrooms training 8,000 people a year, Harlan said.

For more information about the institute, go to ncfi.usss.gov.

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