Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/342119
11 www.officer.com July 2014 Law Enforcement Technology EVIDENCE & FORENSICS W hile the property room in a police department is usually the sole overseer of evidence, the forensic lab— located either inside or outside of the department—shares this responsibility, too. The lab performs testing and analysis of evidence, and then documents findings. Without the ability to automate its operations, a forensic lab can quickly become overwhelmed and backlogs of evidence can balloon. Most lab testing is time-sensitive since so much evidence is tied to pending court cases. For these cases, the software's ability to generate reports on the results of evidence testing is critical. Automating lab—evidence room and integration needed Automating the forensic lab is crucial for increasing productivity and saving time for other tasks. Many crime labs are acquiring technology platforms called Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). These applications pro- vide the ability to collect the necessary data from scientific study and evaluation of evidence, and aid in the delivery of the results for court proceedings. Through automation, a LIMS delivers results from evidence analysis within the agency's own crime lab, relieves evidence back- logs, increases test and analysis speed, and boosts productivity with quicker, more accurate results. Even though many crime labs have a LIMS in place, they are still faced with the disconnect that exists between their LIMS and the law enforcement agency's evidence management system. In other words, these systems are not integrated. Why should they be? The evidence management system controls all evidence items, their status and the chain of custo- dy, including digital assets such as photos, videos, animations, and audio recordings. KCPD LIMS lab aids auditing, statistical analysis An inadequate, mainframe LIMS in the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department Crime Lab fueled a growing number of problems: partial chain of custody and notes on evidence items were on paper; only one person at a time could view a case file; managing back-logs of evidence was extremely difficult; and information could not be easily shared without using more time and paper. The crime lab chose Forensic Advantage LIMS software. So far, the crime lab has been able to tap most of the software's features, including: ■ Evidence tracking ■ Chain of custody ■ Case processing ■ Laboratory reports ■ Testimony monitoring ■ Resource management (for tracking all lab chemicals) ■ Instrumentation ■ Analysis Results Discover According to Jennifer Howard, DNA technical leader and LIMS administrator at the crime lab, an important benefit of the new software is a vastly improved documentation process for tested and analyzed evidence, which has also proven to be a big time saver. Howard quickly points to important benefits with the new LIMS: "Auditing our evidence vault to see what evidence is present and should be present, statistical analysis of what our case output and backlogs are, as well as consistent documentation within our case records." Evidence management software installed after LIMS Early on, Howard concluded that inte- grating the Forensic Advantage LIMS with the police department's evidence management system would be a crucial milestone. But this could only happen if the property room's operations were also electronic. Luckily, in 2013, KCPD acquired the EvidenceOnQ evidence management software program after bat- tling with three disparate and incompat- ible systems—one an ARS/RMS system for officers to write reports and record property entries; another a multi-copy paper system for recording information on property; and yet one more system an aging mainframe database. The inef- ficiencies arising from this patchwork of systems absorbed huge chunks of time and jeopardized chain of custody. Once EvidenceOnQ was deployed, evidence management operations improved immensely, said Capt. Mark Terman, who at the time oversaw the program's adoption and installation. Today, there is tighter chain of custody, and auditing has become one of the most valued capabilities in the software. "We can now look at an (evidence) bin and very quickly tell if it has what it's supposed to have inside," Capt. Terman said. "The software had to track evidence through a chain of custody; you had to be able to find evidence efficiently." Checkmark on both of these require- ments. And EvidenceOnQ even interfac- es smoothly with the police department's ARS/RMS systems that officers still use. Seamless chain of custody is the goal of integration With the KCPD property room's evidence management system now paperless and ensuring solid chain of cus- tody, LIMS administrator Howard feels integration of that system and the LIMS can move ahead. What advantages does Howard see for integration? "It's a matter of having an accurate, easily maintained chain of custody," Howard explained. "If our laboratory is not recovering the evidence, then we want to ensure a seamless chain of custody for that evidence item from the time of collection to the lab and back to the property and evidence unit. If we're not integrated, all of this has to be done manually. Any time you have manual data Even though many crime labs have a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in place, they are still faced with the disconnect that exists between their LIMS and the law enforcement agency's evidence management system. LET_10-15_LIMS.indd 11 6/25/14 11:56 AM