Rep. Ratcliffe introduces bill to provide cybersecurity training to local law enforcement

U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) introduced a bill last week aimed at providing state and local law enforcement the tools necessary to combat cybercrime.

The Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017 would authorize the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), based in Hoover, Alabama, to train law enforcement officers and officials on how to combat cybercrime.

Ratcliffe said the NCFI was widely-recognized as the premier cybercrime training center in the nation.

The NCFI will be operated by the United States Secret Service and will work to disseminate homeland security information related to the investigation and prevention of cybercrime and related threats. State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers, along with prosecutors and judges, will be included in the training.

In a previous House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity hearing chaired by Ratcliffe, law enforcement officer Don Waddle of Texas’ 4th District said training at the NCFI had a positive impact on his ability to combat cybercrime.

“I am not the main benefactor of this training.” Waddle said. “The citizens of Greenville, Texas and Hunt County, Texas, as well as the north Texas area reap the benefits of this training with better recovery rates for property as well as more perpetrators being taken off the streets.”

A previous version of Ratcliffe’s bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015 by a voice vote, but was not considered by the Senate.

“A better-equipped, better-prepared police force means better-protected communities,” Ratcliffe said. “And at the end of the day, the safety of the American people is always the number one goal.”