A Vermont police lieutenant is on a mission to make sure aspiring police officers have the computer know-how to catch criminals who leave electronic paper trails.

At Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., Burlington police officer Lt. Michael Schirling is team-teaching what may be the first computer forensics course taught by a professor and a cop.

Schirling's mission began in 1997, while investigating crimes against children. Schirling noticed an increase in traditional crimes that involved computer evidence and was able to track down a suspected child pornographer based on Internet records. According to Schirling, computers can turn up evidence in any kind of crime, from domestic assaults to drug stings and homicides. "The need to recognize, legally obtain and process these types of evidence is becoming more and more critical to investigations," said Schirling. "Most police departments have limited computer sophistication. Even the police academy doesn't teach any of this yet."

Police officers with computer forensic expertise can track Internet addresses, enter chat rooms, crack passwords and use disk drive analysis to perform complete computer forensic exams.

"Just having taken one course in computer forensics gives police officers a leg up," said Champlain professor Gary Kessler, who will teach the computer forensics course with Schirling. "Now the crime scene may be global," said Kessler, who gave the example of an FBI raid of a suspected drug dealer's residence; amid the filth, they found a state-of-the-art computer system that helped police uncover extensive records and e-mails of drug sales, stolen goods and counterfeit printing supplies that linked the dealer to a major crime ring in New York city.

"Cops usually investigate crimes and say, 'Here's a crime scene, let's throw some yellow tape around it," said Kessler. "Now it's bigger than that."

(The article was accompanied by a photograph with the caption: "Champlain College students Rob Demaine and Jessica Jones speak with FBI Special Agent Susan Aiken at the school's Justice, Security and Forensic Technology Job Fair. Photo courtesy Champlain College.")