Behind the slick flat-screen monitors and souped-up hard drives are millions of information bits zinging along the Internet. Alongside e-mail messages and daily news are photographs, movies and music being downloaded onto computers to trade or to keep.

Computer-related crimes involving fraud or child pornography aren't too prevalent in Monterey County yet, but police departments are gearing up for this new wave of criminals.

Computer forensics issues came to light recently with the case of a University Park Elementary School teacher in Salinas, Larry Mead, who is charged with downloading pictures and intending to distribute child pornography from his school computer.

Last month, Mead pleaded not guilty to one felony count of possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute and 16 misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography. He has been placed on administrative leave.

Using computer forensics, investigators can tell what was deleted from the hard drive and what the image or file was. They can also tell if a file is really a photograph or if it is a text file with a photograph inside.

The Salinas Police Department has named a five-member team to begin studying cyber-related crimes and computer forensics to help combat what could be a big problem in coming years.

Several law enforcement agencies in the county use Encase, forensic software that allows investigators to virtually pull apart the inside of a machine.

"It is kind of low-tech around here," Rogers said. "It is not something a lot of people use yet. I don't think there has been a marked increase."

Mead allegedly downloaded pornography onto his classroom computer. His lawyer, Joseph Cisneros, said hundreds of people could have had access to Mead's computer.

"Each teacher has their own computer," said Terry Ryan, director of informational technology, maintenance, operation and transportation for the Salinas City School District.

The Internet service provider that the Monterey County Office of Education contracts with is a statewide company that keeps track of sites that aren't acceptable on school computers.

There are daily updates sent on the statewide as well as countywide level to prevent people from viewing sites related to gambling, sex or music.

Technicians at the county Office of Education are constantly checking to see what was downloaded and how often a user downloads items from a site. If a user hits a site multiple times for copyrighted or one-time use items, such as music, photographs or educational material, a red flag goes up.

Checks on the system aren't to see what is being looked at, but to look at the network's performance, said Irwin Iida, director of information technology for the Office of Education.

"We check to see patterns," said Iida. "We can't tell what site they visit but we can tell by the downloads... We can block sites so they won't have access."

In the most recent case, though, "The system worked and immediate action was taken," said Garry Bousum, assistant superintendent for administration and business services. "It catches things."

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