Lake Co. Cyber Analyst, Electronic Detection K9 Retire

LAKE COUNTY, IL — A cyber crime analyst and a police dog that specializes in with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office and its electronic detection canine have retired.

Cyber Crime Analyst Carol Gudbrandsen started with the state's attorney's office in 2010 and retired on Monday.

Gudbrandsen specialized in digital evidence forensics of computers, mobile devices, and computer networks. Her abilities made her an integral part of all types of criminal investigations including homicides, crimes against children, sexual assault, theft, burglary, and white-collar crimes, according to a news release from the state's attorney's office, according to a news release.

Browser, an English Labrador who was trained to sniff out a bonding chemical baked on all electronic circuitries, assisted Carol and other law enforcement agencies throughout Lake County, including federal agencies, in search warrants. He also retired Monday.

“Browser always knew when we were going on a search warrant,” Gudbrandsen said. “He would get really excited, especially when he saw the food pouch that was waiting for him.”

Over the years, Carol performed thousands of forensic examinations on various types of digital evidence and was the forensic analyst for all Lake County police departments. Carol also worked on cases for Homeland Security, FBI, DEA, and the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

“When I first started, I used to work mainly on child exploitation cases, but now, digital forensics is used in almost every case. The challenge is knowing exactly what to extract from the devices,”Gudbrandsen said.

JB Brooks, a forensic analyst in the cyber lab, will replace Gudbrandsen as the cyber lab director

“As a former law enforcement officer and penetration tester, Brooks brings a wealth of knowledge from the public and private sectors to our cyber lab," Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said. "While we will miss Carol, we are also confident that JB can build on her work and lead our cyber lab as we upgrade multiple systems through recent federal grants.”