For City Council Meeting July 25, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Arron Brown, Acting City Manager
FROM: Mark P. Kling, Chief of Police
Title
Request City Council to (1) Approve the Purchase of Upgraded Digital Analysis Hardware and an Annual Software Subscription in the Amount of $128,836.18 with Cellebrite, Inc.; and (2) Authorize the Acting City Manager or his Designee to Execute all Documents.
Body
BACKGROUND
The Police Department currently uses Cellebrite to recover, decode and analyze digital evidence from mobile devices. Cellebrite is the industry leader in providing digital forensic extraction and analysis hardware and software solutions for law enforcement applications. The capture and analysis of digital data from mobile devices is required to successfully identify and present evidence of criminal activity in investigations and associated prosecutions. While Cellebrite is a useful tool, the need to upgrade our current subscription has become necessary to overcome the advances in security measures on mobile devices.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
The Rialto Police Department is experiencing an increased amount of digital evidence during investigations and currently does not have sufficient tools to unlock, extract all available data, nor analyze many of these devices. As of today, RPD is collecting a multitude of mobile devices, laptops, iOS devices, and more that are deemed possible points of evidence. However, without the proper tools within the Department, RPD is not able to collect all potential evidence from these devices at a crime scene nor throughout the investigation process. Investigators are forced to ask favors from San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and other neighboring agencies to extract evidence from our devices. Because Rialto's devices are not their priority, the wait time has been months before these favors are fulfilled, causing an increase to the amount of time it takes to complete investigations. The inab...
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