Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse visited Neumann’s forensics lab on May 27 to recognize the university and local law enforcement on the second anniversary of their collaboration and watch students demonstrate the lab’s high-tech equipment.
“What you are doing is not make-believe,” Rouse told the student interns who work in the lab. “It’s the cutting edge of law enforcement.”
Representatives of several local police departments and Delaware County’s Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Department of Emergency Services also attended the event and toured the NITE Center after a brief program in the Bayada Teaching Auditorium.
In the last two years, 37 student interns have assisted 64 law enforcement agencies by participating in 424 forensic investigations of digital devices and supporting real-time crime incidents on 528 occasions.
These cases include homicides, missing persons, cybercrime, organized theft, and more.
The lab is designed to analyze seized digital devices, examine video surveillance from crime scenes, and monitor live video feeds during active investigations. The experience prepares students for careers in law enforcement, cybersecurity, and digital forensics.
Detective Joe Walsh, who has worked in digital forensics since 2010, is director of the lab. He supervises 10–12 interns during the fall and spring semesters and about half that number in the summer.
On campus, the lab has become a popular internship for students majoring in cybersecurity, criminal justice, and psychology. Interns typically work 10–15 hours per week, always under the supervision of a police officer or analyst.
Funded by a federal grant of $258,000 in 2024, the lab includes cutting-edge technology: a Sumuri computer that is custom-made for forensics; a Faraday box to isolate and preserve seized cell phones and laptops; license plate reader software; and several large monitors to view video feeds.