Digital Images: To Keep or Not.......

[Forensic Scientist]

I am gathering information for a new policy that our laboratory is creating. We currently have a digital asset management system to maintain our latent print photos and enhancements. Periodically, this system is archived to dvds or cds and placed into our evidence vault for storage. Some of the images are defined as evidence, while others are merely work product. Multiple cases can be found on one dvd/cd. It is the belief that since these images are evidence, we should treat them as we do latent lifts and return them to the officers who collected them. We are considering archiving each case to a dvd/cd and returning them, however, we will not retain nor have access to these images unless the dvd/cd is returned to us. As an examiner, I feel that these images should be readily accessible to me as part of my case documentation and I am concerned about returning them. In returning them, we run the risk of officers not understanding their importance. It was suggested that I print every image I determine to be of value and retain that as my notes for future comparisons. One, that can be costly and two, I do not feel that the printouts are the same quality that I am seeing on the computer screen. How do other agencies approach retention of digital images under ASCLD or ISO guidelines on evidence definition and tracking? I am interested in hearing how everyone approaches this dilemma.

[Gerald Clough]

My perspective is one of working in an appeals litigation unit, without regard to lab standards. Are you considering abandoning the current archiving or just talking about also putting the images from each case on separate disc with the paperwork? Or is there a difficulty in retrieving the images for a single case from the archive? Since you're worried about being able to have future access, I'll assume it's a matter of only being sure you can get them if you have a case CD aside from the archive.

First, consider what you see as a distinction between evidence and work product. IMO, if you are analyzing an image, whether it is an initial capture or enhanced, it becomes the subject of the analysis and becomes evidence. I share your concern about whether or not something returned to an officer will be treated as evidence and placed in secure storage and the chain of custody maintained. I do not expect non-examiners to understand which items were used in the analysis or even if it is important to retain them. If you believe they should be kept, and you aren't sure if the officer will have them kept, I'd keep them. And I agree that, if you worked from a displayed image, a hard copy is not the same thing you analyzed. In general, where evidence is consumed during analysis, there is no onus later on account of not being able to produce it for reanalysis. Courts take that as a natural and unavoidable fact. But loss or destruction of evidence that could have been preserved is viewed more negatively. It does not matter which operational unit of the state failed to maintain it. At the least, when evidence is lost or avoidably destroyed, it invites speculation, and while mere speculation is weak, it can shift the fact-finding burden to other evidence issues that are perhaps less clear and can make it impossible for a future state's expert to analyze. Some appeals processes can outlive some of the people who work on the investigation, and the law on reports as testimony and confrontation rights is in flux. Considering how cheap a CD or DVD is and the modest time required to make two, I would consider making two and retaining one, if there's a reason to send one to the officer. And it's entirely appropriate to consult the prosecutor who will have to live with the consequences of evidence preservation or lack of preservation. I suspect the answer will be that they prefer the most reliable preservation, which from what you say, sounds like it would be your archive.

[SConner]

Out of curiousity what do the officer do with the lift cards that you return to them?

Why not treat/save the images the same way that you treat/save whatever impressions you presumably use from the latent lift cards?

[SConner]

Wow...that was great English on my part. I mean what "does" the officer do with the latents. It was late in the day.

[George Reis]

Are you saying that your archival system originally stores the images on a hard drive, then eventually moves older ones to a DVD or CD and erases the files from the hard drive? And, that it only makes one copy in this process? And, that your agency is considering giving that one copy to the officer who lifted the print?

If I understand this correctly, I might suggest a few changes. First, the original system should have a back-up (you don't mention if it does or not). Next, if you need to archive, off-line, older cases - I would suggest that there should be at least two copies of the older files, and that DVDs and CDs are less reliable than using hard drives or tape for the archives (I make two copies on separate hard drives for my archives - it's cheaper, faster, more efficient, and more reliable than DVDs or CDs). Third, whether the files are evidence or work product, the examiner may need to refer to them in the future, so the files should be available to the examiner.

Since you mentioned that you are using a digital asset management system. If that system doesn't allow these changes, you may want to consider not using such a system. It is so incredibly easy to develop your own system that works as easily as any turnkey system and does everything you need, and only costs for the hardware. Going this route also makes it easy to change your configuration whenever you find it necessary - such as with a change of policy, technology, operating system, etc.

George

[Forensic Scientist]

Are you saying that your archival system originally stores the images on a hard drive, then eventually moves older ones to a DVD or CD and erases the files from the hard drive? And, that it only makes one copy in this process? And, that your agency is considering giving that one copy to the officer who lifted the print?

We currently use Foray ADAMS. We do archive to cd/dvds, making two copies. One copy goes to the fireproof evidence room, the other is kept as a working copy. We do a daily tape backup of the system. It is felt that we are not meeting ASCLD/ISO standards for tracking evidence since we don't have an actual tracking system for these archived cd/dvds. Thus, it has been proposed to only make one archive copy and return that to the submitting department. I have concerns about doing this and wanted to see how others approached the situation.

Out of curiousity what do the officer do with the lift cards that you return to them?

We currently send any submitted lifts back to the departments. Some are good at maintaining that evidence and others not so much. Which is why I am worried about sending all of my work product on a single disc.

[George Reis]

Thanks for the clarification. Even with two copies of the CD / DVD, I would suggest that you are using one of the least reliable types of media currently available. I still encourage you to archive to a more reliable media.

As to tracking - that's not hard to incorporate. Just create a simple database. You can use Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, FileMaker Pro, Bento, etc. Create a field for each thing you need to log (date received, case number, agency, processing, comparisons made, results, disposition, etc.). You should be able to create the document in five minutes if you're familiar with any of these applications - a bit longer if not. It's really a piece of cake.

Lastly, since you are doing this work for other agencies (something I didn't understand in your original post), you should return a CD or DVD to that agency with all your images. You should still maintain your own archive, but that agency should have access to this. When I work on a case I create a folder with the case name, then sub-folders titled, originals, working, output. My original photos, scans, video, etc. go into the "originals" folder, my working files (uncompressed TIFF, multi-layer, 16-bit, etc.) go into the "working" folder, and my files that are used for illustration (flattened, 8 bit, possibly JPEG, etc.) go into the output folder. Then, if anyone needs access to my work on that case, I give them everything in that case folder - the originals, the working files and the output files. A similar system could be in place for your agency, and you can burn a copy of everything in that case folder to the submitting agency.

George

[Identify]

Our department is located in tornado country, in an older building. I would be very concerned about having our images saved in only one location. Our IT people made a folder for us on a server. Access to these images is restricted to my unit. The server is networked so we can view and print the images here. It is located off-site and backed up regularly. We also have a CD or DVD in our case folder.