Cheryl Purdy was recently recognized by the National Sheriff’s Association with the Reserve Deputy of the Year Award. The award was established to recognize a volunteer reserve or auxiliary deputy who has made significant contributions to law enforcement in their agency or to the law enforcement community.
Purdy, a special deputy with the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, was also honored locally in May when she was presented the Voice for Change award by New Beginnings Sexual Assault Support Services. The award recognized for her work in making a difference in the lives of survivors of sexual assault.
“I, again, feel honored and humbled,” Purdy said Thursday of receiving the national recognition. “As with the New Beginnings award, I know there are others who are far more deserving than me. I certainly appreciate the recognition and am very thankful to have had the opportunity to make a difference in this area of law enforcement that I have become very passionate about.”
Purdy has been with DCSO for the past 10 years. She is a sworn law enforcement officer with full powers of arrest. On an unpaid volunteer basis, she does digital forensics for DCSO and other area law enforcement agencies.
An excerpt from Sheriff Keith Cain’s nomination letter reads, “At the time Cheryl was sworn in with our office, digital forensics was an investigative area that was unserved in this region. In order to retrieve evidentiary data from a mobile phone or computer, detectives drove three hours to the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crimes Branch in Frankfort to deliver and retrieve devices for examination. At that time, backlogs often exceeded a year. Cheryl graciously volunteered to assist our Office in providing this vital need.”
In May, Purdy noted the changes over the last decade.
“At that time (10 years ago), there were very few agencies within the state of Kentucky that had an in-house digital forensic program, so outsourcing the examination of digital devices was the norm,” she said. “Backlogs, though, were well over a year. The wait often resulted in the re-victimization, so to speak, of abuse/sexual abuse victims.”
She continued, “In the beginning, there were a few cases in which digital forensics provided evidence, but once it was realized we could extract and analyze evidence (in a forensically sound manner) locally, it grew to where we are today. Digital devices, especially mobile phones, play a role in the prosecution of most criminal cases.”
Digital forensics assists in criminal investigations by providing more evidence of a crime to include cell phone GPS data, call logs, text messages, and emails. These otherwise inaccessible spheres of information are made available to detectives to further such investigations as child pornography, child sex abuse, homicide, robbery and more.
In addition to phones, Purdy can access information from wireless routers, laptops, tablets, video surveillance systems and more. Purdy also maintains contact with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and she shares information to ensure that victims of child pornography are identified following the closing of a case to ensure that their images are taken off the internet.
She also assists detectives in preparing and executing search warrants to such companies as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and WhatsApp.
Cain also wrote in his nomination letter of Purdy that “She has provided expert witness testimony for this agency and others resulting in convictions. These cases include murder, assault, child exploitation and sexual abuse, transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and more.”
