The Brief The Cook County State's Attorney's Office plans to open a new, approximately 10,000-square-foot digital forensics lab in early 2027. The facility aims to streamline digital evidence analysis and help move criminal cases through the court system more efficiently. The county has approved a lease through September 2042 for space in a building near Van Buren and Canal streets.



In 2027, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office is set to expand its digital forensics capabilities with a brand-new lab.

It aims to streamline the process of analyzing digital evidence and help move criminal cases through the court system more efficiently.

New digital forensics lab

The backstory:

From cellphone records to surveillance video, digital evidence has become a critical component of criminal investigations.

With the demand for digital analysis growing, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office (CCSAO) is working to keep pace.

 The evidence landscape has changed in the last 20 years. It used to be physical evidence, and everybody expected the CSI effect of physical evidence. Well, that's shifted now to digital evidence,  said CCSAO Investigations Bureau Chief James Roache.

Until this summer, Roache says prosecutors relied on outside law enforcement agencies to analyze digital evidence, while handling other aspects of the evidence process themselves.

 A lot of what happens is, prosecutors will get the evidence and try to make copies on their own, and it's a very cumbersome process,  Roache said.

But in July, under Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, the office opened a temporary lab space inside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse - allowing its own investigators to take on that work.

And in a matter of months, a brand-new 10,000-square-foot digital forensics lab is expected to open near Van Buren and Canal streets.

 The fact that we're going to be able to look at all the data that's out there, whether they're surveillance cameras, whether they are Ring cameras, all those things, and put those under one umbrella for a case is going to be tremendous,  Roache said.  It reall
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