New digital task force gives East TN investigators more crimefighting tools

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — The East Tennessee High Tech Force taking shape thank to a grant from the Tennessee Department of Justice.

“We applied for that and got that grant and now we’re here at our high crime task force,” Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Coffey said.

14 agencies are part of the force, including the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The practical crime lab is located on the Carson-Newman University campus and will serve seven counties.

“It’s exclusively looking at cell phones, computers and that high tech. If it wasn’t for this grant, we would be relying on somebody else to do this for us,” Coffey said.

In the past, agencies part of this task force would rely on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for help.

“You send all your stuff to the TBI, which everybody in the state does, and I mean it would take some time to get that stuff back because just the workload they have,” Coffey said.

That information could take months to be examines at time. This task force will help law enforcement examine something like a phone in what Coffey is referring to as ‘real time’.

“If we have a crime that occurs, within hours we could be over here, have access to this place 24 hours a day where they could actually come in here and start downloading that vital information,” Coffey said.

The task force has devices that will help them image phones, computers, watches and detect skimmers in card readers.

“You’ll see here in a minute all the technology that’s here and the ability it’s going to help us solve crimes which protects our citizens,” Sheriff Coffey said.

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