Crime scene investigation is a forensic science practice that helps detectives in identifying, interpreting, and recovering physical evidence from a crime scene for physical inspection or subsequent scientific research.
This article demonstrates the digital evidence collection process, how to handle digital evidence, and what is the role of VIDIZMO DEMS in solving crime.
In many criminal investigations, it is crucial to know and verify a person's presence at the site of the incident.
Because the offender must be walking or driving while entering or leaving a crime scene, shoe and tire imprints are typically vital forensic proof.
Investigating an incident requires gathering and organizing evidence to discover the truth behind it. As a result, the information acquired might be deceptive. Witnesses may provide different versions of the story about the same episode.
What Is The Police Evidence Collection Process?
To achieve judicial requirements for the admissibility of evidence, investigators must follow extensive standards when dealing with physical evidence. A police officer must be able to demonstrate to the court in simple words.
- Why the evidence was collected, and how it came to be.
- How evidence is used to prove a suspect's guilt.
- In what capacity and for what reasons has the evidence been accessed?
- It's where the evidence has been kept.
- That the evidence presented in court is the same evidence that was gathered and examined in the first place.
- No tampering with the evidence has taken place.
Unless the officer can establish that the evidence has been preserved in the chain of custody from discovery to presentation in court, it will not be accepted.
Learn more about Why Is Chain Of Custody Important.
Officers on the scene of a crime must preserve and secure the crime scene. This indicates the scene must be left as found. Digital crimes will inevitably grow with technological advancements.
Tech-related crimes are investigated by forensic teams that analyze, evaluate, classify, and retain digital evidence.
Protecting and securing the crime scene is the duty of all personnel. This implies the scene must be left as found. Digital crimes are inevitable with the advancement of technology.
Forensic teams employ digital evidence to assist in solving crimes using technology. Officers of all levels of expertise often come into touch with digital evidence that is significant to impact the result of the case.
What Is Digital Evidence?
Digital evidence is something that can be saved, retrieved, or sent digitally that is relevant to an inquiry. When electronic devices are seized and held for investigation, such evidence can be collected.
Internet-connected devices and gadgets, as well as mobile devices, are all potential sources of evidence. Distinct sorts of crimes need distinct tactics, techniques, and concerns for acquiring evidence in each of these domains.
How Does It work?
Previously, it was a paper-based system. It took a lot of indexing and documenting. Modern evidence management software tool simplifies this vital task. Initiate and control the chain of custody using the newest barcode technologies.
Barcodes replace obsolete tickler files. Instead, the system sends automatic reminders for late checkouts.
The evidence-tracking system also leverages cloud technology to securely store data and enable users to view it from anywhere. Officers may use cell phones to shoot photos and videos, record and document interviews, and scan driver's license barcodes.
When It Comes To Digital Evidence, How Is It Different From Physical Evidence?
Law enforcement officials are accustomed to collecting and preserving conventional sorts of evidence, but digital evidence necessitates a different approach. Unlike physical proof, digital evidence is non-physical and non-concrete. Despite its external appearance, its true nature remains a mystery.
What’s The Most Critical Aspect Of Digital Evidence?
The management of digital evidence may have a significant impact on its integrity. Given its fragility and volatile nature, procedures must be strictly observed while dealing with data (i.e., during its access, collection, packaging, transfer, and storage).
How to Handle Digital Evidence?
The initial processing of digital evidence involves five stages: identification, collection, acquisition, preservation, and analysis.
Identification
Preliminary information about an incident is gathered in the identification phase before digital evidence is collected.
- Why did this happen?
- What is the matter?
- At what time did the crime take place?
- Where did the crime take place?
- When and where was the crime committed?
The investigator must first identify the evidence sought before collecting any digital evidence. This includes both public (e.g., social media platforms) and private resources (e.g., websites and forums).
Collection
Collecting evidence requires preserving volatile evidence and shutting down digital devices. The investigator gathers evidence. Computers, phones, social media, and the cloud (for digital forensics methods related to multimedia, video, and mobile) are examples of digital devices where digital evidence is stored.
The collection should contain digital devices as well as other important objects (e.g., laptops or notebooks with passwords or other information concerning online credentials, phones, printers, routers, etc.)
Acquisition
There are several methods of acquiring. The method used varies on the digital gadget. Digital evidence should be gathered in a way that maintains its integrity. Digital evidence collection methods and approaches must avoid or at least reduce data modification.
To preserve the integrity of digital evidence, a copy of the device's content is made before static acquisition. Extraction is done in two ways:
- Physical
- Logical
Evidence is physically extracted by searching for it on a digital device like a computer's hard disc.
The logical extraction relies on the digital device, file system, programs, and operating system. Data from active and deleted files, file systems, unallocated and empty space, zipped, encoded, and passcode data are all logically extracted.
Preservation
It is essential to preserve the integrity of digital evidence throughout its processing. First responders, prosecutors, crime scene technicians, and/or digital forensics experts must demonstrate that digital evidence was not modified during identification, collection, and acquisition.
Reporting and Analyzing
The analysis step extracts digital evidence from the device, analyses data, and reconstructs events. Forensic analysts must be informed of the search goals, case history, and any other information discovered throughout the inquiry that might benefit them in this phase.
The findings are discussed in a report. The reports should be exact and concise. The procedures used to analyze and extract data should be explained in-depth, including examples (figures, graphs, tool outputs) and accompanying papers (chain of custody documentation).
The Role VIDIZMO DEMS Plays In Evidence Handling and Crime Fighting
VIDIZMO DEMS provides several security controls and features to ensure compliance with federal legislative requirements, such as those by HIPAA's set of rules and the GDPR for Europe and the UK.
Using a centralized repository that accepts all file types and allows for secure storage makes it easier to manage digital evidence from a wide range of sources.
It also enables law enforcement agencies to solve their difficulty by storing and managing drone video in a single repository.
911 calls are recorded in silos by law enforcement. In certain circumstances, detectives must comb through hours of recorded communications to locate pertinent facts. VIDIZMO DEMS automatically ingests, organizes, and deciphers calls conducted and recorded utilizing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
It encrypts sensitive information for use in court proceedings in several video evidence formats. The text from automated transcriptions may also be redacted when using redaction on audio and visual evidence.
Here's our pick on 5 Tips On How To Present Digital Evidence In Court
Final Verdict
In today's globalized world, technology is routinely used to conduct crimes, while law enforcement increasingly employs technology to combat crime.
Fortunately, technology exists today that allows law enforcement officers to surpass the "binary barriers" of cyber crime, as well as add efficiency to tangible processes such as evidence collection.
VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System is one such technological marvel that provides a 360-degree overview of all digital evidence from all sources in a timely and cost-effective way.
Providing law enforcement officials with the complete set of features incorporating the complete digital evidence lifecycle, VIDIZMO DEMS is optimally adept for digital evidence.
Feel free to learn more on the full feature set that VIDIZMO DEMS provides, which accumulated make the solution optimal for all things digital evidence!
Sign up for a demo to have a hands-on experience of what DEMS has to offer!
