After years of having to send computers and cell phones to be analyzed by outside forensics labs, the Boulder Police Department on Wednesday debuted its own "computer crimes laboratory."

Scott Sloan, a 12-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, has been named the new computer crimes detective. He'll undergo extensive training in downloading cell phone data, imaging computer hard drives and conducting advanced Internet examinations.

Boulder police previously sent computer and cellular crime scene evidence to neighboring agencies with capabilities to analyze the data, and police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said it sometimes took six months to a year to get back results.

Now, Huntley said, the department will be able to process evidence in a week or less.

"This will allow us to move cases along more quickly," she said.

In recent years, Boulder has seen an increasing number of cases and complaints involving computer-related crimes, and those crimes have become more complex, Huntley said. Sloan is expected to take on investigations including online sexual predators, perpetrators of computer fraud and identity thieves.

And, Huntley said, the new lab's technology will be used to help detectives investigate more traditional crimes.

"Even in a case that is a burglary, there might be use for capturing cell phone data," Huntley said.

Especially, Sloan said, now that cell phones store text messages, shoot photos and take videos.

"Now we can obtain all of that," he said. "We had no capabilities before."

Previously, Sloan said, cases had to be "really serious" before police would seize a computer.

"Computers were somewhat overlooked," he said.

The creation of the lab, all of the related technology and the initial training will cost the department about $38,000.

"The creation of this lab and the decision to dedicate a detective to this role shows our commitment to staying on top of the technology that people are using in their daily lives and the advancements that technology offers to law enforcement," Police Chief Mark Beckner said.