BY : PRACHEE RATNAPARKHI

SAFE HANDELLING, PRESERVATION OF ORIGINAL MEDIA

AND

ITS CHAIN OF CUSTODY

(DOCUMENTATION)

INDEX….

• THE NEED TO PRESEREVE AND SAFLY HANDEL THE EVIDENCE…• STEPS INVOLVED IN ITS HANDELLING….• WHAT IS CHAIN OF CUSTODY…• WHY IS IT NECESSARY…• WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CHAIN OC CUSTODY….• HOW IS IT MAINTAINED DURING AN INVESTIGATION…..

THE NEED TO PRESEREVE AND SAFELY HANDEL THE EVIDENCE…

• TO PRODUCE AN EXACT IMAGE OF THE ORIGINAL MEDIA..• TO RECONSTRUCT THE EVENTS THAT OCCURRED….• TO AVOID LOSS OF ANY MINUTE AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION….• TO AVOID ANY KIND OF DAMGE TO THE ORIGINAL MEDIA…• TO AVOID ANY ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE…

STEPS INVOLVED……

• ACQUISITION • SEIZURE• AUTHENTICATION • COPYING OR IMAGING OF THE ORIGINAL MEDIA.. • PROPER PAKAGING • PROTECTION FROM ANY EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL DAMAGE…

WHAT IS CHAIN OF CUSTODY…

• Chain of custody (CoC) refers to the chronological documentation or paper trail, showing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of evidence, physical or electronic.

• Documentation should include the conditions underwhich the evidence is gathered, the identity of all evidence handlers, duration of evidence custody, securityconditions while handling or storing the evidence, and the manner in which evidence is transferred to subsequentcustodians each time such a transfer occurs (along with the signatures of persons involved at each step).

ITS NEED…

• The idea behind recording the chain of custody is to establish that the alleged evidence is in fact related to the alleged crime, rather than having, for example, been planted fraudulently to make someone appear guilty.

• The chain of custody documentation and testimony is presented by theprosecution to establish that the substance in evidence was in fact in the possession of the defendant.

• the chain of custody also helps us to find out if the evidence has been mis -placed or was left unattended by any investigating officer.

ITS VALUE…….

Evidence found at the scene of a crime must eventually be presented and questioned in the courtroom. For the evidence to be of use in a trial, it must make the journey from crime scene to court in a validated and secure manner so that all involved can be assured that it has not been contaminated and that the evidence is relevant to the crime investigation. In order to insure validity, investigators must follow a routine commonly known as the chain of custody when it comes to collecting and handling evidence.

How to maintain a chain of custody...• The first person to collect an item of evidence, be it a bloodstain or a bullet, will sign their initials and date either on the item itself or on its packaging. Clearly, marking an item ensures there is no ambiguity, as packaging could be separated from the evidence itself. However, some types of evidence, such as bullets, may be altered if marked and, of course, it is not possible to mark evidence like bloodstains or fingerprints directly.

• Evidence usually goes from the crime scene to the forensic laboratory for examination where the receiving officer signs the evidence package and dates it. Everyone who handles the evidence does likewise until the analysis is complete. At this stage, the evidence will be given to the police for storage until its presentation in court. The receiving police officer will sign for the evidence and it will be stored in a secure area to minimize the risk of interference or loss.

• now a days bearing in mind the difficulties in handling the chain of custody, a computerized format of the same is made so that the chain of custodies of all the cases (solved or unsolved) can be kept as a record.

• Also the space of storing these c-o-c files is no more an issue now…

• But the initial handwritten c-o-c is very important and cant be skipped out, later on for the purpose of convenience these sheets can then be entered in the computers for their safety as well as further investigation purposes….

• With this facility we can come to know that is any statement , date, sign, etc in the c-o-c is modified or altered late on ……

A BASIC CHAIN OF CUSTODY SHEET…

A COMPUTERISED SAMPLE OF C-O-C…

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND EARS……