In fact, we were able to attract a top cyber crime prosecutor, Reid Wittliff, from the Dallas US Attorney's office to head the Internet Bureau. Another one of our prosecutors has been selected for a fellowship sponsored by NAAG with funds received from the Bureau of Justice Assistance at the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section here in Washington. In prior years, representatives from three attorneys Generals' offices have gained valuable experience during the fellowship. We plan on creating two internship positions for local police officers who will come work at the Internet Bureau and gain experience and hands on training, and then take that experience back to their local departments after the internship. Cyber crime fighting is an expensive endeavor.
Technical equipment is expensive, and technology is rapidly changing.
The cyber crook is likely to have up to date technology and law enforcement needs to keep pace with him. Funding for personnel is critical. Training an officer is costly. And once officers are trained, retention becomes a problem as technically trained law enforcement officers are few and far between and often have offers to work at high-paying private sector jobs. The computer crime point of contact list mentioned earlier can be a tremendous resource, but only if the state contacts on the list have the resources and support needed to handle computer crime referrals.