I’ve been working as an intelligence analyst for more than 25 years.

I began my career in the Air Force working in signals intelligence, then spent nearly a decade as a Senior Crime Analyst with the Colorado Springs Police Department. From there, I helped build Colorado’s first intelligence unit within a District Attorney’s Office. For the past two years, I’ve served as Vice President of Analytics & Investigation at Tranquility AI, where I work on TimePilot, an AI-powered evidence analysis platform.

Across every role, one thing has remained constant: It’s not a lack of evidence, it’s a lack of time. 

And that’s especially true when it comes to cell phone extractions.

When Cell Phone Data Becomes the Bottleneck

Investigations today live and die on mobile data. Nearly every crime has a digital component, and cell phones are at the center of it. But the reality most people don’t like to admit is this:

A single phone can now exceed one terabyte of data. Tens of thousands of messages. Tens of thousands of images. Multiple platforms. Multiple identities. Multiple timelines.

Investigators are drowning in white noise.

And time is the issue. While analysts are stuck scrolling:

• Witnesses get tampered with

• Phones get wiped

• Guns get traded

• Surveillance video gets overwritten

The clock is always working against you.

I’ve seen outstanding investigators miss critical connections — not because they didn’t know how to look, but because there simply weren’t enough hours in the day.

Why TimePilot Is No Longer Optional for Cell Phone Analysis

AI is the only technology capable of distilling massive amounts of disparate digital evidence.

But here’s the key distinction most people miss: general-purpose AI like the models we use everyday like Chat GPT, Gemini and Claude are not built for investigations.

Investigative AI must work differently.

• It must operate in a closed environment (using only your case data).

• It must surface insights and show its evidence sources.

• It must support (not replace) the investigator.

This is exactly what TimePilot was built to do. 

Asking Better Questions Changes Everything

When analysts are given the right tools, the work changes dramatically. Instead of manually digging through folders, you can ask direct investigative questions like:

• How did the victim and suspect first meet?

• Are there threatening messages between these two people?

• When did the situation escalate? And how?

• Are there images of narcotics, firearms, or serial numbers?

• Is there location data that places this phone in a specific area?

In seconds AI can scan across every text message, image, app, and artifact in the extraction and surface the relevant evidence.

Timelines Are Where Cases Are Won or Lost

One of the most powerful applications of using TimePilot in cell phone analysis is its timeline generation feature. 

Investigations are about sequence and escalation. What happened first? What changed? Where did the intent shift?

AI can automatically reconstruct chronologies across platforms and present them as a coherent narrative.It’s a force multiplier for law enforcement. 

Instead of spending days assembling timelines manually, analysts can immediately see:

• The progression of a relationship

• When threats began

• When reconciliation failed

• When behavior crossed into criminality

Cutting Through Images Without Losing Your Mind

Anyone who has reviewed phone images knows how brutal it can be.

Thousands of photos. Screenshots. Memes. Noise.

AI changes that by allowing investigators to describe what they’re looking for. Not just file names, but content.

Examples:

• Images of blue pills

• Photos of firearms

• Pictures where a serial number is visible

AI can scan the entire image set and return only what matches. Often in under ten seconds.

What AI Should Not Do

This part is important.

• AI should not replace investigators.

• AI should not fabricate evidence.

• AI should not make final determinations.

The human must always be in the loop.

The role of investigative AI is to surface the needle in a stack of needles — the one message, image, or event that changes the trajectory of a case.

Investigators still decide what matters. Prosecutors still decide what’s admissible. Courts still decide outcomes.

AI simply gives you back the most precious resource in this business: time.

The Bottom Line

After 25 years in intelligence and investigations, I can say this with confidence:

The future of cell phone analysis is not about reviewing more data. It’s about finding the right data faster.

AI when built specifically for investigators doesn’t weaken cases. It strengthens them. It reduces burnout. It accelerates leads. And most importantly, it helps ensure critical evidence doesn’t get buried under sheer volume.

The technology is here. The question now is whether we continue doing this work the hard way or the smart way.