Investigative

The Real Time Crime Unit (RTC) serves as the Westchester County and regional law enforcement intelligence and information hub, connecting more than 100 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in and surrounding Westchester County. 

RTC plays a critical role in:

• Disseminating information necessary to identify pattern crimes and suspects
• Issuing the latest bulletins on officer safety and criminal investigation methods and techniques, necessary to enhance law enforcement’s detection and apprehension capabilities. 

RTC holds regular intelligence-sharing meetings to facilitate the exchange of information among the numerous police agencies in and around the county. Moreover, it utilizes a secure list server and Web site to give law enforcement members immediate access to current and historical information and intelligence.  

RTC investigations include:

• Counter-terrorism
• Registered sex offenders
• Computer crime
• Bank fraud
• Stolen property
• Predicate felons and gun-related cases. 

These investigations are often conducted in conjunction with:

• Local law enforcement
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation
• The Joint Terrorist Task Force
• The New York City Police Department
• The New York State Police
• The Office of Homeland Security
• Other law enforcement agencies 

Westchester Putnam RTC is a centralized technology center for the Westchester County Police and the regional law enforcement community. Its purpose is to give field officers and detectives instant information to help identify patterns and stop emerging crime. RTC is focused on monitoring, deterring and evaluating criminal activity in real-time through surveillance cameras, fixed and mobile license plate recognition (LPR) systems, crime analysis, and other law enforcement software and databases. The RTC provides investigative support to the first responders on scenes and to detectives handling follow-up investigations.

Additionally, RTC is responsible for monitoring reports of bias crimes throughout the county. The unit also tracks convicted sex offenders who reside in the Town of Cortlandt and Westchester County housing facilities to ensure the offenders are in compliance with Megan’s Law.

The Westchester County Police Narcotics Unit is a countywide drug enforcement unit that:

• Aggressively investigates drug activity within the county
• Provides assistance to local jurisdictions in their battle against drug use and distribution 

The Narcotics Unit utilizes a variety of techniques to accomplish its mission:

• Eectronic surveillances
• Telephone pen registers
• Court-ordered wiretaps
• Search warrants
• Undercover operations
• Vehicle drug interdiction
• Parcel interdiction
• Quality of life enforcement (including prostitution stings)
• Canine-based searches 

The unit works closely with the Westchester County Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (in pursuing federal prosecution of appropriate cases).

Investigators possessing highly specialized, technical and analytical forensic investigative skills are assigned to the Latent Print and Crime Scene Section.

The investigative and technical support services provided by this section include:

• Certified latent fingerprint analysis
• Classification
• Comparison

Other types of forensic processing handled by this section are:

• Crime scene processing
• Photography
• Computer-generated composite imaging 

The Forensic Investigations Unit houses the Westchester County Crime Scene Unit and is utilized by the majority of law enforcement agencies throughout Westchester. 

The Latent Print/Crime Scene Section remains the host site for the county’s Statewide Automated Fingerprint Identification System (SAFIS). The system permits fingerprint examiners to electronically match prints recovered at a crime scene against those of arrested persons on file in the state system.

The Digital Evidence Section received accrediation in 2007 from the New York State Commission on Forensic Science and the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. This achievement made the Digital Evidence Section the first accredited digital evidence section in New York State and the seventeenth in the United States at that time. The Section achieved re-accreditation in 2013.  

The Digital Evidence Section conducts examinations of:

• Computers
• Cellular telephones
• Electronic storage devices  

These examinations are conducted for local and federal agencies and for a variety of cases, including:

• Homicide
• Illegal gambling
• Narcotics
• Distribution of child pornography
• Identity theft.