Champlain Today

This fall on the Champlain campus, an unlikely pair has teamed up to help fight crime. Burlington Police Lt. Michael Schirling and Champlain College's Computer Networking program director Gary Kessler are team-teaching a new course called Computer Forensics. They teach Criminal Justice and Computer Networking students the art and science of using technology to obtain evidence for use in court.

"Forensics is the use of science in a court case, civil or criminal," Kessler said. "In this instance, computer forensics is the analysis of the computer and what information is on the computer."

This dynamic duo has worked together before. Schirling oversees the Vermont Internet Crimes Task Force and Kessler is a recognized expert in computer security issues who also chairs the Vermont InfraGard chapter and directs information security initiatives for the Vermont Information Technology Center.

Computers can turn up evidence in nearly any kind of crime, including domestic assaults, drug stings and homicides. The number of crimes being investigated using computer evidence has soared in the past few years.

Over the summer, Kessler and Schirling co-hosted a week-long National District Attorneys Association training for investigators, forensic examiners and attorneys called SAFETY NET: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Investigating and Prosecuting Computer-Facilitated Crimes Against Children. The course covered topics such as putting the perpetrator behind the computer, working with Internet Service Providers, doing pro-active undercover investigations, and presenting computer evidence in court. Then in August they trained members of the Vermont law enforcement community to use the latest techniques to conduct investigations that involve computers.

But this fall their audience is different; it's made up of Champlain students who want to hit the ground running when they graduate. Throughout the semester, students will gain an understanding of computing and networking concepts, the Internet, computer crime statutes and the management of evidence. They'll try their hand at the industry's best practices for examining computers that might contain crime-related information.

Kessler and Schirling agree it's important for law enforcement officials to understand how to approach computers and the Internet as potential evidence. "They used to investigate crimes and say, 'Here's a crime scene, let's throw some yellow tape around it,'" Kessler said. "Now the crime scene may be global."