Springfield police receive $5K grant for forensic tool to help protect children from sex trafficking and exploitation

The Springfield Township Police Department announced today a $5,000 grant to purchase a Graykey Lite forensic tool.

The tool allows for data extractions from Apple devices, including deleted and hidden content, police said.

The donation comes on behalf of OUR Rescue (Formerly Operation Underground Railroad), a non-profit organization which helps protect children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

From their announcement:

This donation allows examiners to conduct Full File System extractions of Apple devices, previously impossible with existing equipment. This means that examiners will have access to deleted and hidden data previously unavailable. With the addition of this capability, the STPD Digital Forensics Lab is now a full-service digital forensics lab. This means that we are able to conduct our own investigations with in-house equipment instead of having to send the devices out to another regional lab for examination.
Statistics show that each year, criminal investigations involving electronic devices increases significantly. We are now equipped to keep up with the growing demand for examinations in cases involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM), human trafficking, sexual abuse of children, narcotics and firearms-related crimes, to name a few.

OUR Rescue is a non-profit organization that exists to protect children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, which they say “is a mission best accomplished through collaboration with law enforcement agencies both in the U.S. and abroad. OUR Rescue is committed to empowering domestic law enforcement agencies by providing tools, training, and technology to enhance their ability to combat child exploitation.” OUR Rescue is fully sustained by donors who generously give to help save children from being victimized by sexual predators, and to identify, rescue and heal those who have fallen prey to such predation.

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Photo: STPD