IT Governance Business Case
Modernizing Evidence Management
Durham Police Department
Background
The Durham Police Department's Forensic Lab and Property & Evidence Units are responsible for the chain of custody of collected evidence from crime scenes and investigations. Responsible evidence management is required as the evidence is used during court proceedings, and any issues with chain of custody can result in negative outcomes for investigations and prosecutions.
Business Problem
Durham Police Department uses a digital evidence management system (Foray) for storing video and digital files, but the process for physical evidence management is manual. The Police Department utilizes manual labeling and notebook entry for evidence management. This manual process is time consuming and creates vulnerabilities in the chain of custody process due to the high risk of human error.
Pain Points
• Manual process of managing physical evidence is time-consuming
• Risks of mislabeling physical evidence
• Inefficient accountability system
• Errors in evidence labeling, tracking, and chain of custody
• Difficulty in locating and retrieving evidence due to manual tracking
Strategic Alignment
City of Durham's Strategic Objective:
Objective 4.3: Strengthen interdepartmental collaboration and communications
TS Departmental Business Plan Objective 3: Maintain and modernize all the City's assets to align to the evolving and emerging technologies in the marketplace for City business units
Future State Benefits
Physical Evidence Management Improvements:
• Automated evidence tracking
• Irrefutable chain of custody
• Faster evidence retrieval
• Reduced manual labor
• Real-time monitoring
Analysis and Recommended Solution
Analysis of RFID Technology
Market analysis revealed that utilizing Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is the industry standard for law enforcement agency management of physical evidence.
According the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology:
"The proper collection, labeling, and tracking of evidence gives credence that the evidence presented in court is the same evidence that was collected at the crime scene. RFID helps facilitate, standardize and automate the inventory and asset tracking requirements for law enforcement management of evidence."
There are numerous RFID solution providers on the market that could potentially meet the needs of the Police Department's requirements.
of RFID Solutions
Recommended Solution: Issue an RFP to implement an RFID evidence management system for the Durham Police Department
Description
Based on the number of enterprise business solution services on the market capable of meeting Durham Police Department's need, the recommended solution is to issue an RFP and evaluate vendors for capability to meet the requirements and add innovation
Pros
• Ability to track evidence entering and existing vaults.
• Capability to always manage evidence & Inventory items
• Central database for reporting with Audit Trails & Providing Comprehensive Accountability Reports
Cons
• N/A
TS Architecture Review
The identified solution will undergo the standard Architecture Review once a vendor is finalized.
Cybersecurity Review
The identified solution will undergo the standard Cybersecurity Review once a vendor is finalized.
Recommended Solution - Project Financial Estimate
Risk Identification
Mitigation Risk (Costs)
• N/A
Contingency Risk (Costs)
• N/A
Our ask
We are asking the IT Governance Steering Committee to approve and score the business case to procure and implement an RFID evidence management system to improve Durham Police Department's evidence management capabilities. The approved and ranked business case will be submitted to the Budget Management Services Department for funding and approval by the City Manager.