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Manhattan District Attorney's Office Now Houses State-Of-The-Art Cybercrime Lab

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Manhattan district attorney's office now houses a cybercrime lab, which is the first of its kind in the country.

Instead of a typical ribbon cutting ceremony, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance opened the facility by cutting an Ethernet cable, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.

The new 17,000 square foot facility includes a 2,000 square foot crime lab and space for 75 full-time staffers from the DA's office and the NYPD, along with cyber intelligence analysts, forensic analysts and cell site analysts, according to a release by the DA's office.

"Having the tools located in the center really makes a difference to criminals who have found that the click of a mouse is much larger than the shot of a gun when you are committing a robbery," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter terrorism John Miller said. 

In 2012, the city allocated $4.2 million to expand the DA's Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau and High Technology Analysis Unit.

The Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau is involved in more than 650 investigations a year, the release said.

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