- Vere Software

Case Study
In Santa Cruz, WebCase Saves Hours
A look at Santa Cruz Police Departments Online investigative needs and their solution
Who: Detective David Pawlak
What: Sex assaults, general-assignment homicide,
robbery, crimes against persons
Where: Santa Cruz Police Department, California,
United States
Why WebCase: One neat, time-saving package
How he got it: Innocent Justice Foundation grant
How long he's used it: June 2009-present
Finding Solutions
In the six months since Santa Cruz (California) police
have used WebCase, says Det. Dave Pawlak, not one
of the 10 cases for which he's used the software has
gone to trial. “The offenders don't want their private
pictures in the public record,” he explains.
So, while he can't comment on how well juries receive WebCase evidence presentations, he can talk
about how much time the software saves—not just in
court, but also in his investigations.
One neat, time-saving package
“What I like best about WebCase is its ability to consolidate all the evidence into one neat package,” says
Pawlak. “There's no stress over losing evidence or
saving it in the wrong folder, and no extra time taken
to have to look for it.”
WebCase saves time in other ways. Prior to their purchase, Pawlak and his partner, Det. (now Sgt.) Mark
Santa Cruz , California Police Department
Eveleth, were using seven different pieces of software to collect images, chat conversations between
their undercover personas and their suspects, video,
and so forth.
Another problem with using seven different programs: running several of them at a time could consume all a computer's resources, which also slows
the evidence collection process. “It takes time to
switch between your video capture, your image capture, your word processor,” Pawlak explains.
“WebCase does it all, so there's no need to switch so
much.”
“We don't go to court on these cases.”
– Det. Dave Pawlak
“The other programs weren't rocket science, but if
you don't use them often, you forget how they fit
into an investigation,” says Pawlak. For instance, to
use a popular video capture tool, the investigator
must first verify date and time, then create a Windows file folder, then tell the program which video
format (.avi, .flv, .mpg, etc.) to use.
“You need a fair amount of ingenuity for that kind of
thing,” says Pawlak. “It takes extra time to think
about. Whereas with WebCase, that entire process is
automated.” The user can thus focus more on the
investigation—for instance, deciding which suspect
persona to use—rather than on technical details.
Case Study
- In Santa Cruz, WebCase Saves Hours
A Partnership, A Grant and an Arrest
On Vere Software's website is a page about the company's partnership with the Innocent Justice Foundation, a nonprofit that secures grants for law enforcement agencies working Internet Crimes Against Children cases.
“We had heard good things about WebCase through a
local ICAC meeting, and when we had the opportunity
to play with it, we realized we wanted it,” says Pawlak, whose agency had made local news in December
2008 and January 2009. Both times, undercover officers had arrested middle-aged men for “grooming”
and then attempting to meet 13-year-old girls for sex.
The evidence had been collected using those seven
pieces of software, and Pawlak and Eveleth were
looking for a more efficient solution.
“We had received previous grants via IJF, and because
we get most of our software through grants or ICAC
donations, we saw them as our best bet to get this
software,” says Pawlak. The grant process, which included an application for three copies, took from
March through June 2009.
In an agency like SCPD that is new to ICAC investigations, says Pawlak, investigators must be careful
about their software purchases. “Some software you
have to get because it's used for all investigations.
More specialized software is difficult to buy, especially if it's newer and hasn't proven its worth.”
But just four months after the purchase, the police
department made news a third time. In November
2009, KSBW.com and
KCBA.com reported that
44-year-old Jeffery Totten was arrested when
he tried to meet who he
thought was a 12-yearold girl. Detectives had
spent a little more than a
week investigating Totten's activities; they used
WebCase to record and
preserve
undercover
Jeffrey Totten
chat sessions with him,
along with the lewd images he sent of himself.
Proving its worth
Pawlak says in addition to catching child predators,
WebCase has also been useful in child pornography
and homicide investigations. “We've used it to gather
gang members' videos and social networking profiles,” he says.
This kind of versatility is important for a small agency
like SCPD, where Pawlak notes time is money—
money saved through efficiency. “WebCase balances
what was a clumsy process,” he explains. “It cuts
down on overall investigative time, and it also improves the quality of evidence, so that the trial process ends with preliminary hearings, and we're able to
move on with our caseloads.”
For additional information about this and
our other products, call or visit us online:
Vere Software
4790 Caughlin Pkwy, Ste 323
Reno, Nevada 89519-0907
USA
888-432-4445
UK# +44 20 7084 6262
info@veresoftware.com
www.veresoftware.com