Operational Challenge

A law enforcement agency in a metropolitan area of the Pacific Northwest faced a growing volume of items of evidence acquired in criminal investigations. The community's population was increasing and the number of cases was going up. With greater urbanization, the scope and complexity of crimes being investigated were increasing and producing more items per case. Growth, plus issues regarding how long certain items should be retained, resulted in rapidly expanding evidence and property tracking responsibilities. As volumes grew, concerns grew regarding the agency's ability to answer questions about the chain of custody of tangible evidence. Questions about chain of custody can offer an excellent opportunity to create reasonable doubt necessary for acquittal.

It became clear to the agency that they needed to automate the control of these items. An automated process - or system - that could be shown to provide traceability of items and produce an accurate result was important to resolving chain of custody and retention issues.

Objectives were set for the system to:

• Use proven bar code technology to facilitate tracking of property and evidence - from the time they are brought in from the field until they are returned or destroyed,
• Provide easy user access to information about the locations of items - in a form that would allow users to quickly locate needed items,
• Provide audit trails and reports - sufficient to support the reasonable probability that the original item has neither been exchanged with another nor been tampered with,
• Provide information and reports regarding the length of time items have been in storage - to insure items are retained as long as necessary but no longer,
• Provide a high level of system security - to insure the integrity of the database,
• Provide reports and tools - to facilitate tracking evidence items dispersed across an unlimited number of different containers and different locations
• Minimize Costs - by minimizing the manual labor of record keeping

In its search for vendors, the law enforcement agency discovered EvidenceOnQ. FileOnQ (the Company) also offered professional services to design, install, implement and train. EvidenceOnQ proved to be an effective solution to manage the current and future evidence and property management challenges and opportunities.

Why EvidenceOnQ?

Simply put, EvidenceOnQ's software met all of the objectives established for complete life cycle management of property and evidence. Equally important, EvidenceOnQ offers modular growth with optional modules to meet new challenges that may arise and when the department is ready for implimentation. And, EvidenceOnQ also provides a Records Management (Case Management) application that is integrated with EvidenceOnQ.

How Has It Worked?

The project has provided significant benefits:

• Complete Records - Completion of the bar-coding of items and entry of those items into the EvidenceOnQ database has provided a complete record of evidence and property under the control of the agency.
• Improved Service - Officers and Staff no longer search by going to the shelf location. EvidenceOnQ provides current location data and an audit trail for tracking all use.
• Improved Control over Destruction of Items - Drugs, weapons, and other items that must be destroyed can now be tracked.
• Certification of Operations - The agency has easily demonstrated that it has control of evidence and property items to all certification organizations.
• Reduced Operating Costs - The EvidenceOnQ user interface allows evidence staff to handle the growing volume of work without increases in personnel.

Future Plans

Expansion of this application will include web access to evidence and property data via the EvidenceOnQ WebView module. With WebView, authorized personnel will be able to search, view and request records and evidence pieces from the corporate web site. The application will also be expanded to include storage and tracking of electronic objects like digital photographs, document images, notification letters, and other relevant items that can be stored as an electronic file and linked to the corresponding evidence and property records.

About FileOnQ

FileOnQ is a technology leader in content collection management solutions. FileOnQ is committed to providing user-friendly software applications with the lowest total cost of ownership and best value available in the industry.

The modular, configurable design and architecture of FileOnQ provide law enforcement agencies with solutions that are fully tailored to their unique and specific needs. FileOnQ applications can be profiled and installed in hours rather than the weeks or months typical in the industry. All our applications, like EvidenceOnQ, provide the customer the option to begin with a basic application and move forward in logical, affordable and proven steps, providing the right solution both initially and long into the future.