If you receive and send evidence into and out of your laboratory via regular mail, sometimes you see that packages do not contain what they have written it does, and sometimes more than what it writes and sometimes less and some other times completely different thing from what it says, e.g the examination request says the package contains an sd card whereas it is an sd card adapter not an sd card actually.
And vice versa. you examine a external hard drive and send it back. however, the receiving side says they did not find the usb cable of the hard drive with it and they insist that it was not in the package when they have opened it. and you say you did put it and they say they were not able to find it inside the package when they received it.
So, in order to eliminate all these arguments and problems, we consider video recording the packaging process, however it seems it may not show details with small evidence such as SIM cards, SD cards etc.
What do you suggest for convincing and proving the other side that you have actually put all the materials back before packaging?
Maybe your videoing process needs to capture the process of packaging the SIM and SD cards? Is this something that seems to be an issue with a specific client?
Photograph everything in the sealed bag that they send to you. Bish Bash Bosh.
Up to now, we have had such situation for once, it was about a usb data cable which they said they were not able to find amongst tens of materials inside the box. However, we envisage that this may be problem in the future too, because court house clerks are regular office employees and not good at identfying digital devices and cables. They can not make distinction between a card and a card adapter.
And because of piles of work and papers and hundreds of pieces of materials, they may easily miss identifying some small objects.
Photograph everything in the sealed bag that they send to you. Bish Bash Bosh.
Disclaimer
This approach may only work if the sealed bag is made out of plastic or other transparent material. roll
😉
D
jaclaz
Rather than inviting them into the lab to witness the packaging, what about photographing each piece of evidence and putting the image next to the written item name with a count?
D
From now on, we video-record the process of packaging and video-record the actual moments of packaging, showing what we have put in our barcoded and transparent evidence bags. The bags are such that it is not opened through regular ways once it is sealed. This has also added our quality management system )
Scenario -
So what, you have an authenticated video?
I do not see the postal/UPS person who picked it up.
You could have made a duplicated package, barcode etc. and sent us without the stuff in it.
Oh, that is him? How do I know it is not just an employee of yours who dressed as such?
At what point one says this authentication is sufficient?
I would suggest using a courier service rather than regular mail - and as far as intake is concerned notes, notes, notes if a battery is missing - make notes, if the screen is cracked, make notes, etc.
Using video to record the intake process from arrival to departure is going to take up a lot of space - when there really is no need for it. In the end, all you have is your credibility, much of which depends on the notes you take.
The best way is not to use postal service at all for sending and receiving the materials. However, ours is a government lab, and you can not choose -nor afford- any delivery method other than postal service. So, according to the current regulations, the laboratory must accept and deliver materials through postal service.
The barcoded evidence bags we are using are manufactured outside laboratory and they are unique in terms of their ID. And, once they are closed, you can not open them again unless you tear the whole bag apart, which prevents any attempt of tampering after the bag is dispatched. So far so good.
The only blur area -regarding the prosecutor's aspect- is to whether or not you have put each small piece of materials inside bag before sending them away. And this is where the video-recording has to come into play. Because, without video-recording, you can not show prosecutor that you were meticulouse and had actually put each piece of materials inside the bag before seding.