Agenda Item Request
title
Authorization of the purchase of Cellebrite Digital Intelligence software, hardware, and associated training for a total cost of $432,298.68 using grant funds over a five year term, and authorize the County to enter into the associated Quote and incorporated license terms with Cellebrite.
body
Background and Purpose of Request
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Serves as the statewide investigative hub for The Maine Multidisciplinary Trafficking Response Initiative (MDI), a five year, statewide effort to institutionalize a coordinated, survivor centered response to all forms of human trafficking, with a primary focus on labor trafficking, and severe forms of labor exploitation in Maine.
Through its participation in MDI, CCSO is working with Preble Street and other law enforcement and community partners to strengthen Maine's response to human trafficking. The initiative is supported by funding from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and is intended to improve the identification, investigation, and prosecution of human trafficking while supporting a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach.
A critical component of these investigations is the ability to identify, preserve, and analyze digital evidence. Human trafficking investigations frequently involve evidence contained on mobile phones and other electronic devices, including text messages, communications, location information, financial transactions, photographs, and other digital records that may help establish relationships, patterns of control, financial exploitation, and the movement of individuals.
CCSO is seeking authorization to purchase and enter into an agreement with Cellebrite for its Digital Intelligence software, which will give CCSO the capability to forensically extract and analyze digital evidence obtained during authorized investigations. This capability will support investigators in developing objective evidence that can corroborate witness and survivor accounts and may reduce the need to rely solely on repeated interviews with trafficking survivors.
The proposed purchase also supports the MDI’s broader multi agency approach: CCSO anticipates using it digital intelligence capabilities to assist municipal, state, and federal law enforcement partners in MDI investigations, identify connections between cases and individuals across jurisdictions, and standardize a digital forensics capability that can be incorporated in to trafficking investigations, raining, evidence protocols, and grant reporting.
Requestor
Captain Dean Fredricks, Sheriff’s Office
Funding Amount and Source
100% Grant Funded via The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. CCSO is a subaward of Preble Street, which is the lead grantee of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; as such, the County receives funding from Preble Street on a reimbursement basis and is award these funds for a five year period. The table below outlines the year over year cost for the Cellebrite purchase, which will come out of the approved Buffett grant budget:
Year 1: $114,149.22 9/ 22/ 2026- 06/30/2027
Year 2: $79,537.37 07/01/2027- 06/30/2028
Year 3: $79,537.37 07/01/2028- 06/30/2029
Year 4: $79,537.36 07/01/2029- 06/30/2030
Year 5: $79,537.36 07/01/2030- 06/30/2031
Effective Date if Applicable
Date of Commissioners approval September 21,2026