We’re here to help you get started with evidence dispositions.

Are You Feeling OVERWHELMED?

“Our department just doesn’t have the time and resources to spare.”

Are You Feeling STRESSED?

“Our evidence room feels too far gone!”

Are You Feeling CONFUSED?

“I know we should be doing something, I don’t even know where to start!”

We understand it can be overwhelming to get your evidence inventory under control, however it is critical to the long-term success of your police department.

This guide provides real-world examples, informs you of potential risks involved, and helps you apply four key processes to more efficiently disposition your property and evidence.

The Top Six Risks that are created by a backlogged evidence inventory.

Each day, more and more evidence comes in to your department. It doesn’t take long before the shelves are overflowing. As your inventory grows, so will the inherent risks that could negatively impact your department. No person in the department is immune from these risks, including the evidence personnel and even the chief of police.

Inefficiencies & Risk

An overcrowded evidence room means more than just wasted time. It can potentially lead to more costly mistakes, which may negatively impact the agency as a whole.

Reduced Safety & Morale

Many agencies feel overwhelmed due to understaffing – there’s too much to do and not enough people to do it. A backlogged evidence inventory compounds this and puts additional strain on a department’s most valuable resource, the staff.

Broken Chain of Custody

A backlogged inventory significantly increases the risk that items will be lost, misplaced, or subject to theft without you knowing, all of which can impact the outcome of a case.

Growing Lack Of Space

If it feels like the walls are closing in on you - they are! When property and evidence continue to go unchecked, it will rapidly compound your inventory and space problems.

Lost Accreditation

Poor evidence management is often the primary reason that an agency does not meet accreditation requirements.

Credibility & Reputation

Evidence mismanagement attracts the most dreaded type of media attention. When an agency loses its reputation and credibility, it can be a very long and expensive path to recuperate.

Are YOU Feeling at Risk?

Allow our team of former public safety personnel to demonstrate how FileOnQ Solutions empower you to overcome common evidence management risks or take our free online risk assessment.

Take Control In Four Steps

Reduce Your Evidence Inventory

Reducing your property and evidence inventory is an important, yet time consuming, responsibility. It requires attention to detail and cooperation from officers, investigators, and administrators.

The following steps use EvidenceOnQ, a dedicated evidence management system developed by FileOnQ to demonstrate how a comprehensive evidence solution will benefit for your agency.

Assign A Review Date

A retention review date will be assigned automatically to each piece of evidence. These timeframes are determined by each agency and are typically based on the severity of the crime, statutes, and/or policies set in place by your department or prosecuting attorney.

Assign It To A Person

In addition to a review date, a responsible person is assigned to all evidence who will later receive the dispo review notification. This is usually the case officer, although some agencies have the evidence staff research the case status prior to sending it to the investigator for dispo approval.

Notify The Responsible Person

When the review date arrives, the evidence system will send an automated email to the responsible party. One click on the hyperlink in the email opens a list of evidence in the case and allows them choose the appropriate disposition for the evidence. These authorizations are displayed immediately to the evidence staff to take the appropriate action.

Purge The Evidence

Once evidence has been authorized for disposition, it should be purged from the property room as soon as possible to minimize the chance of loss or theft. An automated evidence system can streamline the purge process by eliminating time consuming paper documentation and redundant computer work.

Let Us Help You

Implement These Steps

An automated disposition review process ensures that evidence is systematically reviewed and purged in a timely manner. This ensures valuable storage space remains available and reduces backlog.

Additional Tips for ACHIEVING

Evidence Disposition EXCELLENCE

Have Barcodes - That Work

An efficient barcode system is essential for your agency to implement best practices in evidence management. Having barcodes for dispositions such as Destroyed, Returned to Owner, Auctioned, etc. are key to streamlining purge projects. Many agencies use systems that generate barcodes, yet the scanners don’t work or the systems still require manual transactions.

Capture Personal Information

When releasing property and evidence, it is essential to obtain the signature of the person receiving it. An efficient evidence system enables signatures to be captured electronically and will automatically store them in the chain of custody. Many agencies also maintain a copy of the owner’s identification as well.

Streamline The Auction Process

When staging items for auction, it is important to assign them to a location such as “Pending Auction”. Do not show items as auctioned until they are released to the auction company. It is also vital to ensure all items are scanned or accounted for again when they are released for auction. An efficient evidence system will produce these auction lists for you, (sample list) eliminating the need to generate them manually.

Foundrop Partnership Integration Nationwide, police recover millions of pieces of property that cannot be matched to the owner because you don't know who the owner is, and they don't know you have it. Improve your chances of reuniting valuables to their owners with this powerful unified platform.

We’re Here To Help You

Achieve Your Goals

If you find that purging effectively is still out of reach, we have the experience and evidence solutions that have successfully helped hundreds of agencies just like yours.

Let us show you how.

Don’t Know Where to Begin?

Let Our Team Of Evidence Experts Get You Started!

We understand that you have a difficult job to do - and most likely less time and fewer resources than you need to do it. Schedule a demo to see how we can help you automate the evidence disposition process and keep your inventory in check. Giving you back lost time and resources so you can do your job with excellence.

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google. Google utilizes the data collected to track and examine the use of this site, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. Personal data collected: Cookie and Usage Data. Place of processing: USA. Find Google's privacy policy here.

Evidence Dispositions and Inventory Management - by FileOnQ Inc.