Kevin V. Watson is a digital forensics and incident response specialist, AI assurance and governance practitioner, and founder of Zemi North Advisory. He brings together experience in technology leadership, law enforcement, financial crime, and public-sector investigations to examine digital evidence and advise on the systems and controls surrounding it.
Current work
In his current public-sector role, Watson advises executive, legal, human resources, security, and risk leaders on digital evidence, cybersecurity incidents, internal investigations, AI assurance, and complex questions of fact. He examines digital artifacts, correlates records across systems, reconstructs events, and communicates findings for technical and non-technical decision-makers.
The work includes determining where data is reliable, where assumptions fail, and what the available record supports. Findings can also expose weaknesses in controls, documentation, or monitoring and inform organizational decisions about remediation and risk.
AI forensics, assurance, and governance
Digital forensics provides the foundation for Kevin’s approach to evidence and interpretation. His practice includes matters involving AI systems and synthetic media, where questions about provenance, system behaviour, authenticity, and attribution require careful examination of the available record.
AI assurance and governance are also substantial areas of his work. Assurance examines whether claims about AI systems and the effectiveness of controls are supported by evidence. Governance establishes the responsibilities, policies, and oversight through which organizations decide how AI is used and how risks are addressed.
Kevin’s work connects these activities. He undertakes proactive assessment and governance advice, while also using investigative findings to identify gaps in controls, documentation, monitoring, and accountability. This allows technical findings to inform practical organizational improvements.
His technical work includes developing and using local AI environments, where models run under local control, and retrieval-augmented generation systems, which provide a model with selected source material when producing an answer. He has also worked with machine-learning models and analytical tools for investigation, risk analysis, and evidence review. These activities span professional application, independent technical development, and academic projects. They do not imply that every project was deployed within his public-sector role.
Career and investigative experience
Before entering digital forensics and incident response, Watson spent more than a decade in information technology and technology leadership. He served as Director of Information Technology at Grove Broadcasting, home of IRIE FM in Jamaica.
He later joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), where he rose to the rank of Sergeant. His law-enforcement service included work with the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), including a senior operational role within the Anti-Lottery Scam Unit in western Jamaica. He led and coordinated investigations and operations targeting organized fraud, advance-fee fraud, and other forms of cyber-enabled and financial crime. He also developed intelligence capabilities and worked with Jamaican and international law-enforcement and prosecutorial partners.
That work was not limited to organized-fraud investigations. As a digital forensic examiner, Watson deployed into the field to identify, preserve, and triage digital evidence; examine devices and other digital artifacts; and support investigative teams in determining what the available records established. His forensic work supported a wider range of criminal and corruption investigations, including matters involving allegations against public officials and police personnel.
His work included collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Attorney’s Office on a major transnational lottery-scam prosecution involving more than 30 defendants, including more than 10 extradited from Jamaica. Watson testified as an expert witness in the federal trial. Both the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation record his testimony, and the Caribbean Policy Research Institute later cited him as a primary source on the scam’s methods and the enforcement response. These sources are catalogued in the public record.
He also developed a specialized investigative-intelligence platform supporting intelligence management, exhibit handling, and court-bound case files. His work received formal recognition from senior law-enforcement leadership, including Commissioner of Police Dr. Carl Williams and the Director General of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA). The commendations recognized Watson’s professionalism, dedication, and contribution to combating organized fraud.
Beyond enforcement, Watson convened and led a multi-channel prevention campaign delivered through schools, colleges, parent-teacher associations, community groups, and online media across western Jamaica. The initiative addressed lottery scamming as a form of cyber-enabled organized fraud, educating young people about its criminal, social, and violent consequences while promoting lawful alternatives.
After migrating to Canada in 2018, Watson continued in fraud investigation and financial-crime prevention. At Scotiabank, he held leadership responsibilities in fraud management before serving as a Senior Digital Forensic Investigator. He was recognized as his fraud-management team’s Most Valuable Player and later received Scotiabank’s Best of the Best award for leadership. He subsequently moved into public-sector work. His experience across Jamaica and Canada now connects law enforcement, technology leadership, financial crime, digital evidence, public accountability, and international cooperation.
Education and credentials
Watson holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) and an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC). He also holds an Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Project Management from Durham College and a postgraduate diploma in cybersecurity from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). His current programme is the Master of Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence, University of Ottawa, in progress.
He has earned the GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE), Magnet Certified Forensics Examiner (MCFE), and EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE) credentials.
Zemi North and published contributions
Watson is the founder of Zemi North Advisory, operating as Zemi North. Kevin’s independent client engagements are delivered through Zemi North. This website brings together his professional background, publications, methods, and public commentary.
He is the author of The Zemi Method, with Version 1.2 archived under a DOI; the working paper Artifact-to-Finding Promotion, Version 1.1; and Human–Agent Attribution Discontinuity, Version 0.5. These are versioned publications developed by Watson and applied, where appropriate, within Zemi North’s work. Their publication status does not imply peer review, certification, external adoption, or independent validation.
Public education and personal perspective
Watson also produces Watson’s World, a public-education platform examining Jamaican and Caribbean history, crime, justice, politics, identity, and the forces that have shaped the region. His writing and public contributions draw on experience across Jamaica and Canada without reducing the personal site to a commercial profile.
A personal note
I have worked in technology, policing, financial crime, digital forensics, and public service across Jamaica and Canada. The settings have changed, but the central question has remained the same: What does the evidence establish, and where does its authority end?
I value careful work, plain language, and conclusions that can withstand scrutiny. I write and publish because important methods should be open to examination, not protected by assertion.
Establish what is known. Distinguish observation from inference. Examine competing explanations. Communicate the story accurately.