Page 387 - FY 2026-2027 Adopted Budget Book

Digital Forensics Solution

Organizational Excellence

General Fund Police Recurring $28,489

This request is to fund the annual maintenance of a digital forensics solution. This product allows agencies to
lawfully unlock, decrypt, and extract critical digital evidence from the widest range of iOS and Android devices.
Digital evidence has been rapidly expanding over the last decade and is expected to continue its exponential
growth. Law enforcement has observed criminals using cell phones to communicate with co-conspirators via
voice call or messaging, record their criminal activities with photos or video, conduct intelligence gathering
activities, conduct narcotics sales, distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and utilize GPS related
functions to facilitate their criminal activity. This request includes the Universal Forensic Extraction Device
(UFED), Physical Analyzer, and 15 Unlocks.

Currently, the Bedford Police Department has limited capability to extract digital evidence from mobile devices.
Therefore, the criminal investigations division relies on larger agencies to extract the digital evidence.
However, based on the agency size, there is typically a delay in the return of the evidence up to six months or
more. Due to the extended wait time for data, investigators are only pursuing mobile device extraction on the
most serious of crimes. The agency performing the extraction sends the data to the Bedford Police criminal
investigations division for interpretation without formal training or certificate. There are several areas of
concern with this approach. In digital forensics, an unfamiliar individual could easily misinterpret the data,
leading to the exoneration of the true suspect or the arrest of an innocent party. This product would allow the
Bedford Police Department to experience a faster turnaround on the extraction of data and the individual
performing the analysis and interpretation would be certified.

Improving our criminal investigations approach is a priority; however, other funding requests took precedence
in this tight funding year. City staff will continue to evaluate this and similar solutions for future funding.

FY 2026-2027 Adopted Budget Book · September 15, 2026 383