The Modern Cop: How OSINT Is Reshaping Day-to-Day Law Enforcement

Officers navigate the complexities of modern society. OSINT is becoming part of the diverse skill set they need.

“That’s why I thought about being a cop… It felt like home. Yeah, this fits.” – Chris Goble, Patrol Officer, Arvada, CO. [Source: TIME]

In the quiet pre-dawn hours, while most of their community sleeps, a police officer is just starting their shift.

For most civilians, the day hasn’t even started. However for America’s cops, it’s time to get going – and not knowing what the day (or night) will entail, there’s plenty to think about. It could be responding to emergency calls, investigating suspects, managing administrative tasks, analyzing data, or just engaging with their community as physical ambassadors for a very abstract concept – justice.

Although some might appreciate this part of the job, few Americans are likely to become police officers because they love working early mornings and late nights. In a first-of-its-scale project, criminologist Richard R. Johnson PhD surveyed 1,673 sworn police officers to find out what drew them to policing. Presented with a list of 17 factors that might have influenced them to pursue one of America’s most crucial careers, officers were asked to rank them in order of importance in their choice to take their oath of office.

So, what makes somebody become a cop? It might be justice itself: a strong sense of right and wrong, a powerful moral drive and a capacity for empathy. A majority 68% of respondents wanted to help people in society, and 41% wanted to address injustice, with 8% citing their desire to ‘fight back’ as a victim of crime. It might be a thirst for adventure too, with 78% of respondents seeking an interesting and exciting career. It might be how police come across on TV, and the chance to be a real-life hero: some 26.7% of respondents stated they were drawn to police work through ‘popular entertainment media portrayals of the career’.

Still, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report records that for most officers, only 4% of their time is spent actively confronting violent crime, with only 1 in 20 calls for service reflecting an active violent incident in even the most hectic cities. Although this work is dangerous and important – and reflects the image of cops we might be most familiar with through procedurals, movies and reality TV – it does not make up the majority of vital services police provide. The modern police officer is a more complex animal; every bit as heroic, but with a skillset as multifaceted as the modern world.

“I got shot in my grandma’s front yard… My grandparents called the police. The officers were so reassuring. It was remarkable how fast they came up with suspects. It touched me to the point where I wanted to do the same.” – Angelo Harris, Senior Patrol Officer, Hampton, VA.  [Source: TIME]

In fact, police officers are mostly kept busy engaging in the part of their role that is most likely to inspire others into the force. That is, positive personal interactions with the people they serve. Approximately 45% of Dr Johnson’s police officers became police officers after ‘personally interacting with officers who were at work in the community’. 43% had a police neighbour, family member, friend, sponsor, teacher, coach or youth program officer who inspired them. Policing is about people, and drawing on a range of skills to deliver justice in a way that speaks to them.

This is where OSINT Industries comes in. Justice that feels clear and meaningful for victims and communities relies on quieting the confusion of a modern society where crime, technology, and human behavior intersect in unpredictable ways. Officers equipped with OSINT Industries can bring order to this chaos. OSINT data helps agencies communicate and crimes get solved faster. At the same time, it’s tangible enough for victims to instantly understand: a familiar photo, a recognizable name, a social media profile - pieces of the digital world we all navigate daily. OSINT helps law enforcement tell a story that makes sense of the harm; a story victims can understand, and believe in.

In the end, the reason many officers choose this path is simple: to make things right. Day shift or night shift, we at OSINT Industries believe in providing tools that help.

“When we were about 7, Mom signed us up for an assistance program where, around Christmas, the police took us downtown and bought us shiny white sneakers. It was a big deal for us… We never had a father figure… It inspired me and made me feel like we had a chance to succeed.” – Juan “Paco” Balderrama, Captain, Oklahoma City, OK. [Source: TIME]

Meet Jackson, a Chief of Police.

“I didn’t know there was anything out there like OSINT Industries…” – Jackson M., Chief of Police, suburbs of Pittsburgh, WV. [Source: OSINT Industries]

Jackson M. is a Chief of Police in a Pittsburgh suburb, where he exemplifies the modern officer's adaptability and commitment to embracing new methods. Like most dedicated American officers, Jackson sought to connect with other law enforcement professionals on social media. Joining a Facebook group for Street Cop Training, he asked members if they had any recommendations for tools that boost online investigations.

In these replies, he learned about OSINT Industries.

Reaching out to us via email, Jackson was quickly able to get set up with free law enforcement access to our OSINT tool. Without more than an Outlook account provided by his relatively small department, he was still able to ID himself as an officer and join the ranks of our free users practising #OSINT4Good.

For digital enquiries, Jackson usually refers to his state’s fusion center: a collaborative hub where local, state, and federal agencies can share intel. Here, they utilize different OSINT tools – with his OSINT Industries access, Jackson often finds he can add to their work, streamlining the process of identifying suspects and solving crimes. With his proactive approach to integrating OSINT, this Chief of Police shows how resourceful officers are redefining the relentless pursuit of justice in an ever-changing America.

When Jackson reached out to us once again, we were thrilled; this time to share the positive outcomes of his department using OSINT Industries “on a weekly basis”, and how these searches are keeping his community safe.

Long Con: OSINT Maps a Timeline of Deceit

“Without OSINT… we’d have no clue who this guy was..” – Jackson M., Chief of Police, suburbs of Pittsburgh, WV. [Source: OSINT Industries]

Last year, a Cuban semi-truck driver arrived in Jackson’s sleepy suburban neighborhood. He began frequenting a local truck stop and diner, where an elderly local woman dined every evening. She had once worked there but was now living with Parkinson’s-related dementia. The disease had left her long-term memory intact, while causing her short term recall to all but disintegrate. With her fading memory, she had a quiet vulnerability that inspired most locals to treat her with extra care.

To the trucker, however, she was an opportunity.

He approached the elderly woman, and slowly convinced her they had a romance – in fact, that they were husband and wife. It was easy to gain his helpless victim’s trust, and easy to drive her to the bank and open a joint account. Piece by piece, the trucker got to work draining the woman’s personal life savings. Soon, her family were blindsided by a bank alert: an unknown individual had siphoned $57,000 from their vulnerable loved one.

The family was in a surreal situation. She was unmarried. Who was this man suddenly calling himself her ‘husband’? They had never heard of him, and neither had anybody in the community. This thief was a ghost with access to everything; a stranger embedded in the life of a beloved mother, sister and friend. Without any method of tracing this faceless predator, the family reached out to who they knew could help: local police.

A transient suspect, usually, brings up a host of issues for officers like Jackson. A semi-truck driver can pass through a neighbourhood leaving no traditional markers of identity. This trucker had given his victim a phone number, but Jackson quickly found it was attached to a burner. Then, he deployed OSINT Industries.Searching the burner number revealed the expected phone results like WhatsApp and TrueCaller, but also that the number was linked to a Facebook account.

With OSINT, this crucial mistake by the trucker led to a profile photo, personal details and a name: Eduardo, a.k.a. ‘Ed’. Most shocking was the Facebook account’s listed address, just ten minutes from the woman’s home. Jackson had discovered this transient was not so transient after all, and hoped this evidence could cut through to his confused victim.

When shown Ed’s profile photo, the woman smiled and confirmed: “Yes, that’s my husband.” The OSINT had secured a positive ID.

Jackson then sought a further search warrant: for the semi-driver’s (and his victim’s) financials, to explore the situation before the family caught on to this case of fraud. What they found was chilling. This wasn’t, as they had previously thought, a new relationship.

Two years earlier, the elderly woman had tried to send $3,000 via Western Union for supposed ‘car repairs’. It had been flagged and stopped… but the recipient was Ed. Bank statements revealed $500 here, another $500 there, draining slowly as the victim’s mind declined. Ed knew that she was forgetting every time he asked for money. Still, each time she forgot, he’d ask for more. And each time, she innocently gave it. Meeting her at the restaurant was a long con that had started long before this year. The faux ‘marriage’ was Ed’s attempted coup de grace.

Yet without OSINT, and OSINT Industries access, Jackson admits his force and the family would have had “no clue” who Ed was. The state fusion center’s tools showed nothing; only OSINT Industries had linked Ed’s burner number to the all-important Facebook account. At the time of writing, Ed sits in jail, on felony charges for financial abuse of an elderly person – and the family have justice.

Biker Gangs: OSINT Hits the Highways

With an interstate highway running by Jackson’s neighborhood, transient predators are not the only hazard. Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) are a recurring issue his force have to face.

These criminal groups, which trace their roots back to postwar America, are a fixture on the fringes of US society – and like police proceudrals, media representations of bikers do little to reflect reality. Classified by the FBI as highly structured criminal organizations, not rebellious ‘fraternities’ or freedom-seeking social clubs, these groups engage in drug trafficking, illegal weapons sales, vicious assaults, and brutal homicides, posing a national threat. The U.S. Department of Justice places OMGs as links in the chains of methamphetamine distribution, human trafficking, and organized extortion; keeping the wheels of injustice turning throughout America, and across its borders.

Numerous groups operate throughout america, ranging in size from tens to thousands of members. The Pagans, in particular, have expanded aggressively along the East Coast, clashing with rival gangs, and police forces like Jackson’s. If allowed to take root, this grim subculture’s complex codes, secrecy, and obsession with territorial dominance make them tough for law enforcement to remove.

So when a local Pagan chapter president moved to Jackson’s Pittsburgh suburb last summer, the team were not about to let this insular world of fear and intimidation threaten their community. Especially when the president started running his house across the street from the family residence of a brother officer.

Clubhouses are hubs for a club’s criminality. It didn’t take long for the chapter to start running meth out of the president’s house, and for to identifying and exposing him to become the force’s “pet project”.

After a tense vehicle pursuit, officers chased down the chapter president. They got him safely behind bars, but like all suspects, the president was allowed to make a phone call. Jackson didn’t expect this to escalate the threat. Officers overheard that members from the Pittsburgh chapter, just 45 minutes away, were planning retaliation. The president knew officers’ names, and was naming them as targets.

Jackson raised the alarm to the fusion center. Here, OSINT was to become a vital tool in the police’s fightback. Using open-source data, analysts started mapping threats, flagging the big-city gang members posed the greatest risk, and making moves to protect the officers under threat. Throughout that summer, several major Pagans were arrested thanks to tips and shared OSINT data.

The story didn't end here. One of Jackson’s off-duty colleagues was stopping for gas at a station when he noticed something unusual: men in Pagans regalia, out in the open. Quickly, the officer took down their numberplates. Running them found the owners – and an email address. With OSINT industries, this was a major lead. Jackson ran an OSINT search, and found what simply running the plate couldn’t. The Pagans member in question had a Samsung Health account, and had linked it to the majority of his social media; to the accounts that proved he was part of an OMG. Jackson generated a PDF report, and pinged it to the fusion center.

Now, with warmer weather returning, Jackson’s team are gearing up again. The Pagan Motorcycle Club will be back on major interstates. But with this OSINT-powered police force, the community at large will hopefully never feel what rolls in.

Fusion: OSINT Evolves a Data-Sharing Vision

“Your website pulls info other websites don’t…” – Jackson M., Chief of Police, suburbs of Pittsburgh, WV. [Source: OSINT Industries]

The fusion center system was founded after September 11th 2001. Beaming data across the US has historically been a big task, but after 9/11, many agencies were still finding dangerous gaps in intelligence sharing - sometimes even within the same state. In Jackson’s home state of West Virginia, law enforcement struggled even to share intel from north to south. The world was digitizing fast, and law enforcement needed to adapt to the complications.

Fusion centers were designed as the solution. With at least one established for each state, these hubs analyze and distribute intelligence quickly between local, state, and federal agencies, linking everybody up and keeping them updated. When Jackson faces a digital investigation hurdle, like identifying a suspect, West Virginia’s fusion center is his first port of call.

The fusion center relies primarily on a mix of other OSINT services and traditional databases: services like TLO (TransUnion), Whooster, and IDIcore. These, Jackson finds, have a tendency to return fragmented or limited results. Looking for “a relative, details or whatever” usually means entering searches into three or more databases and correlating between them. Or as with ‘Ed’, the fusion center “shows nothing”. This draws out and complicates the already complex processes of justice.

With OSINT Industries, however, Jackson is able to take a more proactive approach to data than simply waiting to see what the analysts will find. Jackson’s OSINT Industries searches “just show everything up", routinely finding intel that was hidden via other pathways. The ability to generate an already data-rich PDF and share it with the fusion center – at the point of requesting analysis and data-sharing – is a game-changer.

Jackson recalled doing so “just yesterday”. A local movie theater had posted about a free movie night on Facebook inviting the community to come together. On the event page, a user had (for “reasons unknown”) made a comment that appeared to be a legitimate bomb threat against this harmless evening of free entertainment.

He claimed to live 4 hours away – Jackson quickly looked up his name and date of birth. From here, he was able to coordinate access to an email address. Via OSINT Industries, Jackson could instantly validate from data breach reports that this email address was legitimate. This meant the fusion center needed to waste no time on false positives, mistaken identities or bad leads.

‘Extra Work’: Finding More with OSINT Industries

“For this almost 80 year old elderly woman, this is devastating… It’s very big deal to find the ‘small’ amounts of money too…” – Jackson M., Chief of Police, suburbs of Pittsburgh, WV. [Source: OSINT Industries]

Thinking back, Jackson realizes that OSINT is all about “how deep you wanna dive”.

Had he stopped investigating earlier in his recent cases – had he not had access to OSINT Industries – justice wouldn’t have been fully served for his community.

Because of Jackson’s OSINT skills, somebody’s loved one is not left with “0 in all her accounts” and the perpetrator having “taken off”. Still, if he had stopped at finding Ed stole $57,000, he “wouldn’t have found the rest”. The story of Ed’s long con, leeching from a trusting elderly woman over years, would have remained hidden. For a victim so vulnerable, every little detail matters, and that Facebook profile had unlocked them. OSINT Industries helps Jackson to do “the extra work” so that, in a touching irony, the victim “wasn’t forgotten”.

In Jackson’s mind, “it all worked perfectly” to bring him to OSINT Industries; through good luck or fate, “if he hadn’t seen that account on Street Cop… never emailed… we’d have no clue” who had victimized a vulnerable woman, terrorized his colleagues or threatened his community week in-and-out.

From our perspective at OSINT Industries, it’s not luck that brought Jackson to us; it’s his initiative. Jackson heads a force that moves with the times, not behind them. That’s why he’s fusing OSINT with old-school investigative talent, bolstering the already diverse skillset of the modern American officer to catch the bad guys and keep people safe. Jackson exemplifies meaningful, human policing that sees doing the “extra work” as a privelege and a duty. This is policing that reflects America as it is now, and where it’s going next.

When Jackson and his team gear up each day to make things right, we’re proud that OSINT Industries is a part of their loadout.