Windhoek – From January 27-31, 2020 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, conducted a Wildlife Trafficking Cybercrime Training Program (WTCP) in Windhoek, Namibia. The purpose of the training is to strengthen global law enforcement relationships through the sharing of information related to the collection-preservation-examination-investigation of digital evidence in order to enhance the ability to combat worldwide illegal wildlife trafficking.
The training was conducted by three U.S.-based USFWS experts. The class consisted of seventeen participants from the Namibian Police Force.
This one-week curriculum provided an overview of various cybercrime investigative topics related to wildlife trafficking which are reinforced through field exercises. The curriculum focuses on digital evidence; crime scene processing; basic cybercrime investigative techniques; e-mail, social media and online marketplace investigations. It encourages interaction between instructors and class participants and concentrates on the exchange of information and techniques used by USFWS in combating wildlife trafficking using cybercrime investigative techniques in the United States. Participants are also given the opportunity to use online resources and investigative techniques that support wildlife investigations.
Each participant received a cybercrime CSI kit which contained tools such as a digital camera, a 1terrabyte media storage drive, and multi flash card reader, and a tool kit. The participants utilized the items in the kits during the numerous labs conducted throughout the training.
