On a recent “Law and Order” television show detectives found themselves trying to track down the suspect in a crime that had Internet connections.

At the end of the show, after unweaving a very complicated cyber-case, the senior detective said, “if this is what police work is going to be like, I am going to retire.”

Well sir, many county sheriff’s departments around the country are already involved solving crimes in cyberspace. There are several distinct differences about crimes that occur through the Internet that make them difficult to solve. The days of dealing face to face with a merchant are disappearing rapidly. Most people can sit in their own homes and buy goods from merchants 2,000 miles away.

What happens when these sales go wrong and fraud results? Most local law enforcement officers don’t know what to do. Many won’t even take the cases because the “alleged criminal” lives in another state. Small crimes and frauds currently abound on the Internet and because each crime is for a small amount of money, the crimes fall through loopholes between local, state and federal jurisdictions.

What kinds of crimes are the most common on the Internet? According to information from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a joint project between the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, auction fraud is the most common. It is followed by non-delivery of paid-for products, securities/commodities fraud and credit card fraud.

Local law enforcement officers are trying to develop an approach that addresses the many unique facets of crimes committed over the Internet, and are looking to already overcrowded state and federal agencies for solutions.

Representatives from various federal agencies have said that it makes sense for the federal government to address Internet crimes because most cross state borders. One federal representative says he is receiving 15 cases a week and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center has received more than 1,000 complaints a week since May.

What are the solutions? Most of the early emphasis has been on tracking pedophiles and pornographers. Loudoun County, Va. has a full-time sheriff’s officer whose job is to work in the underbelly of cyberspace. The deputy spends most of his time working with law enforcement officers from across the nation who are seeking information about online communications on AOL, whose headquarters is in Loudoun County.

He spends his entire day processing search warrants for online conversations for officers from other jurisdictions who are trying to investigate crimes against their local residents. Most law enforcement officers are accustomed to preserving blood, bullets and other physical things as evidence and now they are being educated to preserve online communications that may lead to the apprehension of criminals.

The sheriff in Loudoun County has seen his department’s workload go from one request for an Internet-related search warrant in 1996 to nearly 300 requests in 1999.

The Pueblo County, Colo. Sheriff’s Office has set up a high-tech crimes unit that has handled 22 cases already. The commander of the sheriff’s office said, in a recent interview with USA Today, that it was very difficult to convince county officials of the importance of having someone devoted to cyber-crimes.

Many other jurisdictions are contemplating similar responses to this new area of crimes. Most of them cite the cost of training, which can run from $30,000 to $40,000 for one officer, as the problem.

As more and more counties look for solutions to cyber-crimes against their residents, some look to regional task forces and others look to creating a local solution. Special training has been established by several national organizations, such as The National White Collar Crime Center in Fairmont, W. Va., so that local law enforcement officers can prepare themselves for this new era of crime.

(Research News was written by Jacqueline Byers, director of research.)