Hatchet Trace

Find the signal. Follow the trace. Hatchet Trace is local-first OSINT monitoring that runs on your own hardware: more than 14 sources swept on a five-minute cadence, case scoring, and a dedicated auto-theft and VIN-fraud module. No vendor cloud, and court-ready chain of custody by design.

Why we built it

The intelligence that breaks a theft or threat case is scattered across marketplaces, forums, and messaging channels that no investigator has time to watch by hand. The OSINT tools that do watch them usually run in a vendor cloud, which means sensitive case data leaves the agency, and they cost more than a small department can justify. Hatchet Trace was built local-first for exactly that reason: the monitoring runs on the agency's own hardware, and the case data never leaves the host.

The problem it confronts

A stolen vehicle or a cloned VIN gets relisted across Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Reddit, and Telegram faster than a person can track, and the listing that proves the case can vanish before anyone captures it. Investigators need continuous watch across many sources at once, and they need the evidence preserved in a way that holds up later.

How it works

• Sweeps more than 14 OSINT sources (RSS, Reddit, public Telegram, imageboards, government feeds, and marketplaces) on a five-minute cadence.
• Runs a dedicated auto-theft and VIN-fraud module that watches for stolen vehicles, cloned VINs, and title washing, with VIN validation and NICB alerts.
• Scores per-investigation keywords HIGH, MED, or LOW and correlates hits automatically across sources.
• Captures evidence with SHA-256 hashing and EXIF and GPS data into a tamper-evident audit log modeled on the CJIS Security Policy 5.5.6 audit requirements. That is a design alignment, not a certification.
• Sends real-time HIGH and MED alerts to Telegram and writes on-device case summaries with DAN-O, so nothing leaves the host.
• Adds optional premium deep-dives (Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, eBay) with one free run a month and a small per-run fee after that.

What makes it different

It is local-first and self-hosted. There is no vendor cloud, the case data stays on the agency's hardware, and the chain of custody is modeled on CJIS Security Policy expectations. Omega Point holds no CJIS attestation and no CJIS Security Addendum, so authorization for any deployment rests with the agency and its state CJIS Systems Agency. That combination is what makes it usable in environments where a hosted OSINT tool simply is not allowed.

Transparency and limits

Hatchet Trace monitors public and open sources. It is not a backdoor into private accounts. The premium deep-dive runs are metered beyond the monthly free run, and access is gated to verified law enforcement through a request-access onboarding.