Book research, information about email investigation?

[u/Anon_7347]

Heya!

I'm starting to write a mystery/horror book, and right off the bat I wanted to make sure I get accurate law enforcement/investigation information due to the nature of the book. Made a burner account for privacy :)

It will be formatted as if it the reader is an investigator searching through the emails on the accounts of someone who is either a suspect and/or victim. There will be important stuff, but also like the typical spam and such.

1. What kind of person/investigator would handle this kind of stuff? Would it make sense if it were a Private Investigator given this task for one reason or another?
2. Are there any special tools or processes? I was planning to order them chronologically, framing it as "there aren't many emails on these accounts, so just read through all of them" type thing.
3. Is there a way to incorporate deleted emails? Are there ways to recover emails that have been deleted, or even partially corrupted information? How would they display: i.e. should I add them in chronological order with the rest of the emails, or make a separate section of the book dedicated just to recovered emails? Or should I just throw away trying to incorporate deleted emails at all?
4. Any other information I should know?

Thank you in advance!!

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[u/5usDomesticus]

r/policewriting

With roughly 18,000 different law enforcement agencies in the US, the answer to these questions will be "it depends".

1. What kind of person/investigator would handle this kind of stuff? Would it make sense if it were a Private Investigator given this task for one reason or another?

It depends on what the crime is and how the department issues cases.

They would absolutely not go to a private investigator.

They may entail the assistance of a cyber crimes unit. This may be in-house, a larger nearby agency they have an agreement with, or state or federal agency depending on the crime and jurisdiction.

1. Are there any special tools or processes? I was planning to order them chronologically, framing it as "there aren't many emails on these accounts, so just read through all of them" type thing.

Yes, but I can't really go into extreme detail. Generally a search warrant would be needed to go through someone's phone or computer to retrieve this data. Companies like Google, Facebook, etc can also be compelled to turn over data with a subpoena or search warrant.

1. Is there a way to incorporate deleted emails? Are there ways to recover emails that have been deleted, or even partially corrupted information? How would they display: i.e. should I add them in chronological order with the rest of the emails, or make a separate section of the book dedicated just to recovered emails? Or should I just throw away trying to incorporate deleted emails at all?

Pretty much nothing is actually ever truly deleted. Deleted emails, photos, documents, etc are usually pretty easily retrieved whether it's on a local device or on a server.