WASHINGTON ― President Trump signed a bill that will allow state and local law enforcement to gain needed cybersecurity and cybercrime prevention skills at one of the nation’s top training schools.
On Nov. 2, Trump signed the Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017 (H.R. 1616) into law, a bill introduced by Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texast.
Specifically, H.R. 1616 authorizes the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) to “educate, train and equip state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges” in the ways of cybersecurity and cybercrime prevention. Located in Hoover, Alabama, the NCFI is regarded as the premier law enforcement cybercrime training hub in the U.S. and is responsible for training nearly 7,000 local officials across the entirety of the country.
“I‘d like to thank President Trump for his strong support of my bill to ensure our state and local law enforcement officials are properly equipped to address and prosecute crimes in the 21st century-” Rep. Ratcliffe stated. “Because we’re now in an era where almost every case involves some sort of digital evidence.”
Furthermore, the bill expands the U.S. Secret Service’s Electronic Crime Task Force network via the addition of NCFI trained state and local law enforcement officials. There will also be no additional funds authorized for the bill, as it outlines that “this act and such amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise available for such purposes.”
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