Cell Tower and CDR Analysis Training

FF members may also be interested to know there a US company able to produce a variety of maps.

RF path, Terrain, etc etc

I have been in contact with http//www.towercoverage.com and they can accommodate production of maps for the mobile spectrum GSM 3G LTE. At $25.00 it seemed to me the cost could easily be amortised into the running costs on a case by case basis.

I had a few people ask and was able to confirm with Brent Bailey that this training IS available to non law enforcement personnel. Please contact Brent at info @ CellularDataResources.com if you have any questions.

Some further details about Mast (cell tower) considerations

Operational Audit Check (OAC) is part of Cell Site Analaysis (CSA) -
http//trewmte.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/operational-audit-check-oac-is-part-of.html

NW3C offers a course for Basic Cell Phone Investigations (BCPI) that is free to state, local, and tribal agencies. They issue an application that will assist the investigator plot cell phone origin and termination points that is exportable to Google Earth. Additionally, the class helps the investigator interpret the returns from the cellular companies and helps to define the information the carriers need to provide the information that is most useful for the investigator. I attended this class last year and found it very informative. This course is currently being scheduled throughout the US, so take a look at the course description and register if you qualify. http//www.nw3c.org/training/computer-crime/37

Dj,
The training NW3C offers is good, but I think by calling it BCPI it is somewhat mislabeled. I found it to be more of a manipulation of excel spreadsheets and mapping. It's my opinion that this is more of an advanced class. If I were starting out in Basic Cell Phone Investigations I would suggest initial training from Police Technical, PatcTech or Geocell.

I took NW3C's BCPI a few years ago and one thing I noticed was that the instructors were not cops. This may not seem that important if your taking a class in death by excel and mapping locations, but if I'm taking a class in BCPI then I want to be instructed by cops that are in the trenches every day. I recall one question from a student was " I have been told that some carriers retain SMS data while others do not. Do you know who retains it?" The instructors didn't know. It seemed to me the correct answer would be part of a BCPI class?

The program they provide you with saves you about $400 a year and allows you to import large files into Google Earth without having to purchase the pro version. I know they have an updated version of the program, but do you know if it has the ability to incorporate RTT, PCMD or AT&T's historical MLT?

Greg,

How extensive is your OAC search? Are you just requesting OAC on neighboring masts aka the initial outer ring or are you also requesting OAC on the secondary outer ring or all masts within the switch or group?

A few years ago their was a legal opinion posted in this forum where a Federal agent got blasted in Court because he drew a conclusion based on historical CDR 's and failed to note that a mast in close proximity to the crime scent was no longer in use.

My feeling is that OAC or a request for maintenance records is not done all that often on this side of the pond. I don't think it's not that it isn't thought of, but possibly an issue with cost as the records may not be something which is kept in the normal course of business.

Cheers,

How extensive is your OAC search? Are you just requesting OAC on neighboring masts aka the initial outer ring or are you also requesting OAC on the secondary outer ring or all masts within the switch or group?

Ed, its has to be proportionate to the case at hand. For instance, a case dealt with a gang conducting ram raids and the raids were prolific in an area that the OAC search included a considerable number of masts (density of masts) in an area. This took into account neighbouring cells/masts.

In a murder case I was able to show from OAC that an important mast had been decommissioned and recommissioned on a new build some distance from the original site. In that case we looked at 40 different masts due to the high number of mobile calls in the case over a number of months of call traffic.

We don't analyse rings in the UK but use masts installation base providing services in e.g. LACs / RAs.

The obtained data in the records shown in the chart in my OAC article is comparatively small compared to the data that can be obtained about a particular mast or installation base (density of masts) and its/their designed coverage.

A few years ago their was a legal opinion posted in this forum where a Federal agent got blasted in Court because he drew a conclusion based on historical CDR 's and failed to note that a mast in close proximity to the crime scent was no longer in use.

This can happen and indeed on a case for the defence that I worked that was actually at trial I was asked to conduct tests and found that a mast appearing in the pros evidence was no longer working.

Another point why OAC is important. The pros expert in a murder case went to site to run tests. When I obtained the OAC details the very day the expert recorded in his report he was testing in an area a particular mast, important to the case, was in fact undergoing maintenance that same day but this was not mentioned by the expert - hence further underpinning the relevance to conduct OAC.

My feeling is that OAC or a request for maintenance records is not done all that often on this side of the pond. I don't think it's not that it isn't thought of, but possibly an issue with cost as the records may not be something which is kept in the normal course of business.

It would be a surprise if others are claiming to you that records are not kept for a period of time. Many in the know will raise eyebrows at that suggestion.

The issue on cost I assume you are suggesting is in relation to proportionality with respect to the type of case being investigated.