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The
San Diego Evidence Response Team at
work
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Our people in San Diego possess a mix of
talents and experience that enable us to help protect
you, your families, and your workplaces from a full
range of national security threats and major crime
problems.
Our employees are not only special agents, but a
variety of specialized professionals such as intelligence
and
financial analysts, investigative specialists, support
services technicians, language specialists, paralegals,
electronics technicians, and security experts.
Our strength lies in our investigations—the
very heart of our operations—and in the collection,
analysis, and sharing of intelligence that drives
and supports those investigations both locally and
nationally. In every case, we work to objectively
gather the facts and to develop evidence that can
stand up in a court of law. To do that, we can interview
witnesses, run undercover operations, analyze financial
records, map and manage crime scenes, develop informants,
make arrests, conduct surveillance, and gather information
and intelligence from around the globe. Our cases
today are often complex and multi-faceted, involving
a range of public and private sector partners and
covering multiple jurisdictions.
Among our specialized capabilities:
- Evidence recovery
and processing: Our Evidence
Response Team is made up of special agents and
other specialists who are sent to crime scenes to
secure
the area and exhaustively gather and process
physical evidence. Each team member has a forensic
specialty
and has been extensively trained. They can take
photographs, diagram and survey scenes, gather fingerprints,
analyze
blood stains and splatters, determine bullet
trajectories, recover DNA, gather and process the
smallest of clues,
and more. The teams coordinate with the FBI Laboratory
and assist local law enforcement upon request.
- Computer
forensics: The Regional Computer
Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) provides computer-related
assistance to law enforcement agencies within San
Diego and
Imperial counties. Our facility has the distinction
of being the first established FBI-sponsored
RCFL in the country. Today, we are among the leaders,
both nationally and internationally, in conducting
research and development for tools and procedures
for use in the computer forensic and law
enforcement communities. We are also part of the
growing
RCFL
network that is striving everyday to combat
computer-related crime by assisting law enforcement
agencies in
the areas we serve. We also have a Computer
Analysis and Response Team, made up of forensic
examiners who are experts at retrieving evidence
from
a vast
array of digital devices, at processing that
evidence in a way that maintains its integrity
for use in
court, and at presenting the results of their
findings to investigators.
- Field Intelligence
Group: The mission of the San Diego Field
Intelligence Group is
to meet current and emerging national security
and criminal threats by focusing proactive investigations
against the threats of the United States.
The
strategic
goal contained in this mission is to build
and sustain an enterprise-wide intelligence capability
that will provide useful, appropriate, and
timely
information and analysis to the intelligence
and law enforcement communities.
- Tactical support
and crisis response: We have a Specialized
Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team
that can storm barricaded buildings and vehicles,
breach
locks and other structures, arrest armed
and dangerous criminals, rescue hostages, patrol
areas
and provide
security, navigate tough terrains by climbing
and rappelling, use special techniques to stop
fleeing cars, and conduct site surveys for special
events.
The team is highly trained and heavily equipped,
with expertise in a variety of weapons, including
pistols, assault and sniper rifles, and shotguns.
We also have a Hostage Rescue Team designed
specifically to locate and liberate victims in
hostage
situations.
- Emergency negotiation: San Diego's
Emergency Negotiation Team (ENT) is one of the most
active
and experienced FBI teams of its kind in United
States. This level of expertise is due in large
part to the team’s participation in all
San Diego Police Department "call-outs" since
1995 and in San Diego Sheriff's "call-outs" since
2005. Over this period, San Diego's ENT has responded
to incidents involving hundreds of barricaded
subjects, suicidal individuals, and domestic
violence situations.
The experience gained through these call-outs
has enabled our ENT to teach a Police Officer
Standardization
and Training (POST) certified Introduction to
Crisis Negotiations course and to deploy domestically
and internationally for protracted and significant
negotiation situations.
- Bomb recovery
and analysis: We have special agent bomb technicians in San
Diego who can
test and render safe a variety of explosive devices.
They respond to calls of suspicious packages
or
objects and are deployed during bombing investigations,
often working closely with our Joint Terrorism
Task Forces. They gather diagnostic information
from the explosives that may be relayed as
vital intelligence to local investigators and to
the
national Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical
Center. Our bomb techs often work and train
with local first responders and law enforcement.
- Hazardous
materials: We have a HAZMAT expert who
investigates crimes involving the actual
or threatened use of any hazardous material, including
weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This expert
provides scientific and technical consultation
and/or response on hazardous
materials/WMD
investigative matters; trains, equips,
and assists
the FBI's Hazardous Materials Response Teams;
supports National Security Special Events and
FBI Special
Events; partners and trains with the public safety,
scientific, and international communities; and
prepares and provides training
internally.
- Violent crime
analysis: The National
Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) combines
investigative and operational support functions,
research, and training in order to provide assistance—without
charge—to federal, state, local, and foreign
law enforcement agencies investigating unusual
or repetitive violent crimes. The NCAVC also
provides support through expertise and consultation
on non-violent
matters such as national security, corruption,
and white-collar crime investigations. The experienced
FBI agents and other professionals who comprise
the NCAVC staff provide advice and support in
a variety of investigative matters and other
law
enforcement related functions. Typical cases
for which NCAVC services are requested include
child
abduction or mysterious disappearance of children,
serial murders, single homicides, serial rapes,
extortions, threats, kidnappings, product tampering,
arsons and bombings, weapons of mass destruction,
public corruption, and domestic and international
terrorism.
- Translation: Our group of language
specialists can translate written documents
and audio files
in a variety of languages. The subject matter
may involve any area in which the FBI has jurisdiction,
including investigations into terrorism,
organized crime, public corruption, and other violations
of federal statutes. They also join agents
on cases,
translating during live interviews and even
during undercover operations.
For more information on FBI and its capabilities,
see our About
Us webpage.
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