Today’s Digital Evidence Room

Law enforcement agencies are moving away from paper and towards digital. With that comes massive amounts of data that needs to be stored, particularly digital evidence. Extracting data, downloading, and storing digital evidence is oftentimes consuming and law enforcement agencies look for convenience as well as quality in the digital software they purchase. As technology increases and departments turn towards more digital forms of evidence, police property rooms must keep in step with the change.

Saving time, creating efficiencies

Software companies continue to make this transition easier by working with law enforcement agencies to find the best way to manage evidence. QueTel is one of those companies. Mary Jo Apodoca, evidence custodian of the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department in Las Cruces, NM says their department uses QueTel software, which does a plethora of things for evidence management. “The program is excellent and is able to track evidence and digitally upload photos,” Apodoca says. The system makes keeping track of each piece of evidence that comes in easy with date and time stamps that maintain the chain of custody. Apodoca says the software is helpful to investigators when it comes to evidence collection. “The software allows the officer to calibrate their evidence photos.” When an investigator takes a picture of a shoe impression or another piece of evidence, through QueTel they are able to calibrate the image to get the best quality possible.

Several software programs allow rights to corresponding agencies for easy access, making the process of the investigation quicker. “QueTel has the ability for an agency to deem rights to their local district attorney,” Apodoca says. Linking other agencies such as the court, and the district attorney enables them to retrieve the information they need and saves evidence custodians time.

Extracting data

Extracting data can be a lot of work, but the El Paso (TX) Police Department has a plan in place. The department uses 10 different tactics including both devices and software programs to extract data from digital devices. Detective Bianca Serna says using the devices such as the USB 3.0 High-Speed Media Reader from Kingston Technology prevents data from being written to the secured digital (SD) card during the copying process. The reader is used for viewing and attaining data that may be stored on a SD card. “The software prevents the targeted data from being altered,” Serna says.

Managing extracted evidence that is solely digital is often time consuming. However, Serna explains that new software and newer devices allow cellphones and computer devices to be processed in under 30 minutes. Extracting information may take several days if the device has a large amount of storage. It is important for law enforcement personnel to put the device on airplane mode so evidence is not deleted before it is extracted. “If the device is not placed into airplane mode, it can still make a network or cellular connection,” says Serna. “This may bring in new data that overwrites the evidence.” Certain cellphones may also be altered remotely deleting files if not placed in airplane mode.

Though digital devices hold a large amount of data that needs to be stored, it is crucial for agencies to extract as much as possible for evidence. “Cellphones, computers and other devices hold a lot of information and in a criminal case this is extremely helpful and incriminating,” says Serna. Evidence may include text messages, voice messages, emails, images, videos, GPS information, contacts, timelines, browsing history, call records, subscriber information and more. 

Each piece of digital evidence is key. Data that is obtained may help investigators reconstruct events leading up to an offense. “The data may also be the actual offense such as possession cases, and child pornography,” says Serna. In these cases the digital evidence may support motive or provide insight to the investigator as to the nature of the event. Storing and managing this type of evidence has also helped in active and ongoing cases. “Digital data can provide GPS data which provides insight to murder investigations, kidnappings, and robberies,” says Serna.

Digital evidence from cellphones must be managed accordingly. People utilize applications and emails more than ever to communicate with someone else therefore the possibility of having evidence located somewhere on the device is high. Digital evidence provides a digital paper trail as well as insight to the person to whom the device belongs. “This evidence is not altered by the investigator and can provide a jury with a lasting impression,” says Serna.

Often, departments will place this information on a USB drive and place it in the property and evidence room. The ability to store massive amounts of digital information onto one, small device allows police property rooms to have a designated space for this type of evidence without taking up too much room. Video footage that was once stored on a VHS tape, or audio evidence that was housed on cassettes or reels may now be placed on USB drives or copied to CDs, DVDs or cloud storage. This makes storage management easy and efficient while still maintaining the integrity of the evidence.

Securing digital evidence

Due to the fact that evidence rooms across the nation are getting away from traditional paper sources and are turning to strictly digital recording systems, cyber security must also be taken into consideration. Veripic has been assisting law enforcement agencies for several years with digital evidence needs, says John Kwan CEO of Veripic. He notes that their Digital Evidence Manager software takes a different approach to security. “The aspect that sets up apart from other similar security programs is that each file uses a different encryption key,” Kwan says. Having a separate security code for each file keeps hackers from attaining access to all files in a department at once.

Veripic is capable of linking with other sources of digital software, making it easy for departments to transition or implement their program. Kwan says the system is open allowing agencies to use it with a program they already have for digital cameras or body cameras. Veripic has assisted agencies in making the transition from paper to digital much smoother. Aside from management, storage, and security, budget is among the top considerations when choosing a system. “Several years ago we converted all of Bexar County, TX from a paper process to a completely paperless process,” Kwan says. “Our system handled 160,000 criminal cases per year saving the county $600,000 per year in labor costs.”

Departments look for ease-of-use in body camera, dashcam video evidence storage

One concern for some police departments is the storing and access of body camera and dashcam footage. The Ruidoso Police Department in Ruidoso, NM, recently set up their unit cameras and body cameras with WatchGuard Video. One aspect many departments like about the company’s 4RE system is the convenient way the software downloads automatically. “As soon as the officers pull up to the police department, their videos begin to download to the wireless server,” says Natalie Davis, office supervisor for the Ruidoso PD. The automatic download saves time for the officers.

The Ruidoso PD also purchased Vista Wi-Fi body cameras which link with the 4RE systems that are already in each police unit. The two recordings from the body camera and the unit camera automatically link together in the Evidence Library. From there the video surveillance may be used, viewed or exported for court. Quick access and easy extraction saves the Ruidoso PD time and effort while still maintaining the chain of custody.

In addition to bringing efficiency for evidence management, the systems provide safety for the officers. Davis says the WatchGuard system has proven to be extremely dependable. “The officers know that when they pull up on a call, their cameras will work, recording every instance on that call.” The moment the officer turns on their emergency lights the cameras are activated. This attention to detail protects law enforcement personnel from invalid citizen complaints. “We have the capability to review the event recording easily in the Evidence Library to prove an officer did everything by the book,” Davis says. The provision of such accuracy motivates officers to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Having an accurate, reliable system is important on many levels. Davis says that assurance officers have when their car and body cameras are dependable is important for their peace of mind. “It will come in quite useful if an officer involved shooting or an active shooter situation occurs,” says Davis. In addition to the safety, there is the ease of exporting and recording each video onto a DVD that is simple and quick, making management of the software an easy task.

The Dona Ana (NM) Sheriff’s Department agrees. Its units are equipped with the Arbitrator unit camera systems by Panasonic. “The positive aspects of Arbitrator is that it protects our deputies from frivolous complaints,” says Lieutenant John Lovelace. Lovelace says the cameras act as a sense of security for the officers in the case of a civilian complaining against an officer. “It allows for supervisory personnel to review activity and critique if needed, or even praise when a deputy does a good job,” says Lovelace.