In a world that's becoming increasingly digital, threats and the manner in which they are being carried out are changing.
How to deal with those threats is part of the job of Kevin Perkins, special agent in charge at the Baltimore office of the FBI.
Perkins said the game has changed in battling crime as much of the bureau's job has moved to dealing with cyberspace.
"Whether they be terrorists, whether they be gang members, whether they be violent criminals, all of them are using this type of technology," Perkins said.
Keeping up with the technology and the evolving terminology that goes with it is a constant battle for law enforcement. It includes such terms as "going dark" as criminals move from communicating via social media to a more encrypted communication such as apps that don't keep a record of communications, making them impossible to trace.
"That is probably one of the biggest challenges to law enforcement and the intelligence community that this country's facing," Perkins said. "We're losing a little bit more of our ability to gather information and to be able to gather evidence to solve crimes and thwart terrorist attacks.
"When the attacks first became known in Paris, we immediately began checking with known sources in this area looking to see were there any known threats within the Maryland-Delaware regions that the FBI could address."
That includes keeping an eye out for what could quickly become a major local threat.
"Our biggest concern really is the homegrown violent extremist, that individual who is self-radicalized and (can) be moved to action just based on seeing what happened in Paris," Perkins said.
A new frontier that keeps getting newer means a shift in the way the FBI in Baltimore looks for candidates.
"Just like the terrorists, just like the gang members, we have to be able to keep that step ahead of everyone, or at least keep up with them as we go forward in order to protect the public," Perkins said.
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