In the fall of 1999, the Detective Division of the St. Joseph Police Department, while investigating a child pornography case, came across a computer which was believed to contain illegal images of children.

The computer was taken to the station and was systematically examined by simply looking through each and every folder on the computer. At the time, it was the only tool available to the division for which to process the computer. Images were located and documented. However, through this process, the SJPD learned of a more advanced method for obtaining the evidence from a computer, a process known as computer forensics.

In the spring of 2000, two detectives were sent to National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to attend training for computer forensics. The training was free due to an initiative from the US Department of Justice.

During the initial set-up of the ECU, several names for the unit were discussed. Since not all cases involved computers, but it appeared they have electronic devices of some sort involved, the ECU was so aptly named the Electronic Crime Unit.

The ECU received grant money from the federal government to obtain the first set of hardware and equipment to conduct examinations. Over the next few years, the grant money continued to supply the ECU with the much needed training and equipment.

Between 2002-2004, two detectives were trained in Forensic Video Processing. In 2004 the ECU received the first piece of equipment to process analog and digital evidence with respect to video. This equipment, called an AVID system, was funded again by Federal grant money.

In 2002, a third detective was added to the ECU to assist with the growing case load of computer examinations. In addition to computers and video, mobile forensics was added to the ECU in 2004. With the growing market for video surveillance and the increased case load for computer forensics, two additional detectives were sent to training to learn how to process video evidence.

In 2005, the Federal grant money was exhausted. Seeing the need for continued funding, the Administration for the Police Department and City Hall added the ECU as a budgeted item to the Police Department’s Annual Budget.

Today, the ECU remains a budgeted item for the Police Department. The money is used for training and equipment, as no full-time personnel are staffed at the ECU.

The investigators of the ECU are members of HTCIA and NW3C. In 2007 the department became a member of Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC).