Do you have the space, time, resources, and knowledge required to manage every aspect of your investigations? How long would it take you to find, organize, synthesize, analyze, and utilize all of the digital and physical data associated with a single case? What falls through the cracks when you can’t manage it all?
In theory, more data should lead to better outcomes. But if you don’t have a convenient, easy-to-use system in place to organize, protect, analyze, and contextualize your data, you can’t use it.
As digital evidence becomes easier to manipulate, it’s even more important that law enforcement and prosecutors can ensure proper chain of custody. If your current system can’t prove the following, you’re opening yourself up to reasonable doubt in the mind of a jury:
- Nobody has tampered with your digital evidence
- The data you provide is authentic and unchanged
- The evidence was logged accurately
- Access to evidence was properly controlled
The technology required to sort, analyze, and utilize data is much more complex than most home-grown data storage solutions can handle. Antiquated systems for managing digital evidence cost agencies time and money and cost communities justice. CDs and DVDs are manually copied, physically mailed, or personally transported in each step of the process. Discs deteriorate and get misplaced. Storing digital files on servers also poses problems. It’s difficult to find data by case number, investigator, or date.
Some agencies are establishing better use of investigative data through a mix of more sophisticated storage methods. But different types of evidence and data are often siloed in different storage solutions, so workflows remain largely manual and disconnected, creating a serious risk of missing connections or critical information.
None of your investigative data has any value if it can’t be easily accessed, shared, contextualized, and analyzed. The time involved in the manual processes required to sift through digital data can be significant, and there are times when critical digital data simply doesn’t get to the prosecutor on time or at all.
Turn this challenge into an opportunity by investing in a software solution that helps you manage every step of the investigation process.
Designed to combine the best features of all Omnigo evidence management solutions, Investigation Case Management allows users to easily organize case data and communicate a clear, straightforward story of the crime scene.
Learn more about Investigation Case Management and Omnigo’s other industry-leading evidence management solutions.
