DPS NEWS

Major Crimes Unit: 2017 at a Glance

In 2017 the Department of Public Safety’s State Bureau of Investigation’s (SBI) Major Crimes Unit conducted various investigations from cyber crime to assessing threats against individuals and critical infrastructure. SBI Agents also served as liaisons for new refugees in Utah. Here are 2017 year highlights for the unit:

• During 2017 the State Bureau of Investigation-Evidence Response Team assisted various agencies in Washington County, Wayne County, Summit County, Salt Lake County, Utah County, Juab County, Davis County Weber County, Cache County and Box Elder County. Theses assists include investigations into Officer involved Critical Incidents, rapes, aggravated assaults and homicides.
• During the 2017 year Major Crime agents dedicated more than 680 hours towards death investigations that included homicides, officer involved critical incidents, suicides and unattended deaths.
• During the 2017 year Major Crime agents also dedicated 280 hours towards violent crime investigations that included aggravated assaults, kidnapping and weapons charges.

Cyber Crime

• The Cyber Crime Unit investigated approximately thirty Cyber investigations referred from SBI, 53 referred from the Salt Lake City FBI Division and assisted with another fifteen cases from other FBI Divisions. Total investigations initiated or assisted with: 98. A majority of these cases were related to business email compromise, computer intrusions, romance scams, ransomware and purchase order fraud.
• In 2017 Agents have documented $575,833 in losses and $1.8 million in attempted losses. Agents have also been able to track down products which were sent to re-shippers and freight forwarders valued at $608,000 and have them returned to 22 different vendors. This represents a substantial disruption to cyber criminals as well as a huge service to victim vendors.

Refugee Outreach

• During the 2017 year the Department of Public Safety Refugee Outreach program contacted more than 500 newly resettled refugees while presenting at 34 law orientation classes that were taught at the Catholic Community Services and the International Rescue Committee.
• The total number of refugees contacted by the DPS Refugee Outreach Program in 2017 is more than 2,000.

Threats Program

• During the 2017 year SBI agents investigated 46 cases involving a threat of violence against individuals or critical infrastructures. Over 400 hours were spent identifying, assessing and managing these threats in an effort to make the citizens of Utah safe and secure.

Sexually Motivated Crimes

• The Major Crimes Unit investigated over 15 sexually motivated cases that occurred on Utah highways or at the Salt Lake Community College. Over 300 hours were spent investigating these crimes.

Fraud Investigations

• Throughout the 2017 year Major Crimes agents investigated over 49 fraud investigations and spent close to one-thousand hours of time investigating these cases.