| Passed by the Senate March 2, 2009 YEAS 47 ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House March 30, 2009 YEAS 97 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Thomas Hoemann, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 5184 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 61st Legislature | 2009 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/15/09. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to evaluating the need for a digital forensic crime lab; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 (1) The legislature finds that there is a
growing incidence of crimes committed against Washington residents,
especially against children that involve the use of electronic
technologies, including computers and the internet. Currently, law
enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute technology-involved
crimes and online child sex predators is significantly limited by the
lack of computer forensic capabilities.
(2) Therefore, in the interest of promoting the safety of our
children and communities, providing better investigative tools for law
enforcement and prosecutors, and to hold online child sex predators
accountable, the legislature directs the Washington state patrol and
the office of the attorney general to convene a work group to study the
need for a virtual digital forensic lab in the state of Washington.
The work group shall review state-of-the-art technologies as utilized
by existing digital forensic labs in other states, and evaluate their
cost and effectiveness. The work group shall also consider the
relative advantages and disadvantages of regional and centralized
digital forensic labs, and the merits of staffing such labs exclusively
with uniformed officers or a mix of law enforcement and civilian
personnel.
(3) In order to accomplish these objectives, the work group shall
seek input from the computer software industry and representatives of
existing digital forensic labs as how to best centralize forensic
analysis of electronic devices and computers, expedite the review of
digital forensic evidence, increase the expertise and specialization of
forensic examiners, allow investigating officers to conduct basic
searches for information and images remotely, and consolidate the
custody of all digital forensic evidence in a central repository so
that it may be remotely accessed by all law enforcement agencies across
the state.
(4) The work group shall report back to the legislature by October
30, 2009, and make recommendations regarding the advisability of
establishing a Washington lab that would employ newly designed
technologies focused specifically on the needs of the state of
Washington.