With phones, cars and computers at the scene of nearly every crime, digital evidence can play a crucial role in solving criminal cases.
Oregon State University’s police department aims to become a hub for digital forensics with a regional lab serving the Linn-Benton area.
The lab is a shared space at OSU’s Department of Public Safety used by digital forensics examiners from university police, the Linn and Benton county sheriff’s offices and the Corvallis and Albany police departments.
The lab is fully operational for the 2026-27 school year. One forensic examiner moved into the lab in April, and several others followed this summer.
“Everyone walks around with a phone, so everyone’s walking around with a recording of where their GPS location is, what messages they sent, what phone calls they got. So literally, it could impact all of our cases,” said Aaron Sutherland, a police officer and digital forensic examiner at OSU.
The lab features high-powered computers to download evidence from devices, equipment for fieldwork, microscopes to find serial numbers on parts and other tools.
Sutherland said development of the lab began after OSU Police Chief Jim Yon, a former Linn County sheriff, hired him from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
The lab’s main benefit is reducing the cost of forensic technology by allowing agencies to share specialized software and other tools. Much of the technology is dongle-based, meaning it runs from a USB drive that must be physically shared between departments.
“This laboratory will enable our agencies to work together to extract digital evidence more expeditiously and cost share on expensive digital data extraction hardware and software,” Corvallis Police Lt. Ben Harvey said in an email.
Sutherland said the lab also helps law enforcement agencies share technical expertise.
“If we have issues or run into something we haven’t seen before, maybe another examiner has some insight they can give us to overcome that roadblock,” Sutherland said.
Smaller agencies without digital forensic examiners can now call on an available specialist at the regional hub rather than trying to reach individual departments.
Philomath Police Chief David Gurski said his department does not have a formal agreement with OSU police to use the lab’s resources, but “they’ve always been great partners to work with.”
Gurski said the Philomath Police Department has had staff and equipment to support digital forensic investigations in the past but does not currently have trained staff or updated equipment. The department has relied on the Benton County Sheriff’s Office or the Corvallis Police Department for that work, he said.
Locating the lab at OSU also opens the possibility for students to learn digital forensic techniques. Sutherland said he plans to offer an internship for Oregon State students in the future.
Many examiners, like Sutherland, began as police officers and then became licensed in digital forensics. However, there are multiple pathways into the profession for both civilians and sworn officers.
Sutherland said it’s important for departments and educational institutions to begin training the next generation of investigators.
“There should be an educational pathway for individuals to follow to get a combination of criminal justice and computer science backgrounds and then go into digital forensics,” Sutherland said.
(Philomath News contributed to this report with comments from the police chief).
