b'C O V E RShieldA to Help TackleDigital the Evidence Tsunami By Chief Bryan Larkin, Waterloo Regional Police Service, D isruptioninthedigitalageisand Adam Belsher, CEO, Magnet Forensicsofteninvolves somethingtotoday,wherealmosteveryinvestigation thataffectseveryindustry,includingsomesortofdigitalevidence,mostfoundon policing.Infact,thechallengesfacinga smartphone.front-lineofficers,investigators,policeDigital forensics labs in Ontario are facing the same leadersandallmembersofthepolicingpressures surfacing around the world: the fact that the profession are evolving at an unprecedented rate. A casevolumeandcomplexityofdigitalevidenceisgrowing in point is cyber-enabled crimes and investigations withexponentially. This, in turn, creates significant backlogs digital evidence.while funding for new personnel to address it is growing Historically, this area of policing was the purview of aincrementally. Even when there is funding for new digital small group of highly trained, specialized officers workinginvestigators, finding qualified candidates for such roles is in digital forensics or high-tech crime units. At the adventdifficult given the market demand for digitally savvy per-of these units, most of their investigations pertained tosonnel. Further, such roles have a relatively high burnout child sexual exploitation where the critical evidence wasrate given the overtime and continued exposure to child found being traded online from a computer. Fast-forwardsexual exploitation content.6 H.Q. Winter 2019/20'