I urge caution against amateur investigations, but it'd be interesting to see what software tools could be written to help law enforcement do a better job.
Just be careful, if you get too god at this it might be used for things you don't agree with. This is an area that I would steer completely clear of, the same way I'd never help develop chemical or biological weapons.
Are you saying that working with a very skilled person is worth sacrificing your ethical integrity? I would not hesitate for a second to deny working on things I consider against my personal beliefs even if there was both money and fame at stake.
To use the good old reductio ad absurdum, would you be willing to kill a random stranger if it meant you would get to work with Albert Einstein?
I urge caution against amateur investigations, but it'd be interesting to see what software tools could be written to help law enforcement do a better job.
Statistical analysis of text
"social web"
etc.