System and method for collecting and tracking evidence

• US 10,346,497 B1
• Filed: 04/01/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Primary Marking Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Primary Marking Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: McIntyre, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gudorf, Laura A
• Application Number:
  US15/477,082
• Time in Patent Office: 829 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0725 the arrangement being a circuit for emulating a plurality of record carriers, e.g. a single RFID tag capable of representing itself to a reader as a cloud of RFID tags
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet

Abstract

A system and method for tagging, organizing and tracking evidence during an investigation has evidence kits and mobile communication devices that collect physical, photographic and interpretive evidence, such as materials from a crime scene, interviews with witnesses and an establishing shot of the crime scene or other areas or persons of interest for surveillance operations. The evidence kits can be used to collect physical evidence, and the mobile devices or other computers are used to upload information about the evidence. Users can enter descriptive information about the evidence into the mobile devices while other information pertaining to the evidence may be obtained from other sources and automatically provided to the users for their review and possible incorporation into the record. Each mobile device can store information in memory and communicate the information to the central server computer where it may then be made available to groups of mobile device users.

Claims

1. A system for collecting and tracking evidentiary materials identified during an investigation of a case, the system comprising:

a plurality of evidence containers for collecting a first set of the evidentiary materials;

a plurality of evidence tags comprising machine readable indicia, wherein a first set of evidence tags are attached to evidence containers holding the first set of the evidentiary materials;

a transportation container for holding the first set of the evidentiary materials in the evidence containers;

a transportation container identification label attached to the transportation container, wherein the transportation container identification label is comprised of a unique machine readable indicia;

a central server, wherein a case identifier for the case is stored in the central server, wherein the unique machine readable indicia is associated with the case identifier in the central server, wherein a plurality of evidence entries are stored in the central server and are correlated to the case identifier in the central server, wherein the evidence entries comprise a plurality of alphanumeric codes and a plurality of descriptions, wherein the plurality of alphanumeric codes correspond with the machine readable indicia on the plurality of evidence tags, and wherein the plurality of descriptions correspond with the evidentiary materials and are respectively correlated with the alphanumeric codes in the central server; and

a handheld communication device in networked communication with the central server, wherein the handheld communication device comprises a computer processor, a memory, a display screen, and an input device, wherein a set of the evidence entries are entered into the computer processor through the input device and stored in the memory, wherein a search term is entered through the input device, wherein the computer processor performs an internal search of the memory for the search term and provides an internal search result on the display screen, wherein the handheld communication device sends the search term to the central server in an external search request, and wherein the handheld communication device receives an external search result from the central server for the search term.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the transportation container identification label and the plurality of evidence tags further comprise a human readable indicia corresponding with the machine readable indicia, wherein the transportation container identification label further comprises a listing of at least one of the machine readable indicia and the human readable indicia on the evidence tags attached to the evidentiary materials in the transportation container.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server comprises an alert system associated with the evidentiary materials, wherein the alert system comprises a plurality of notification options comprised of a future trigger date and at least one action corresponding with the future trigger date.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a second set of evidence tags are attached to a second set of the evidentiary materials, and wherein the transportation container holds the second set of the evidentiary materials with the second set of evidence tags.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials are removable from the transportation container without destruction of the transportation container and without removal of the first set of evidence tags and the second set of evidence tags from the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials, respectively.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the handheld communication device further comprises a camera module, wherein the camera module takes a set of photographs of the evidentiary materials and scans the machine readable indicia associated with the evidentiary materials, and wherein the display screen further comprises a selection option for an establishing shot picture from the set of photographs, and wherein the computer processor assigns a reference position corresponding with the establishing shot relative to at least one of the evidence entries.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a printer in communication with at least one of the central server and the handheld communication device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the printer produces the transportation container identification label with the case identifier and at least one of the alphanumeric codes and the machine readable indicia associated with the evidentiary materials in the central server.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote computer in networked communication with the central server, wherein a name of a victim entered into the central server through the remote computer and is associated with the case identifier in the central server, and wherein the remote computer is at least one of a handheld communication device, a portable computer, and an investigatory computer tool.

10. A system for collecting and tracking evidentiary materials identified during an investigation of a case, the system comprising:

an evidentiary kit, wherein the evidentiary kit is comprised of a plurality of evidence containers, a plurality of evidence tags, and a transportation container, wherein a first set of the evidentiary materials are collected in the evidence containers, wherein the evidence tags comprise a machine readable indicia and are attached to the evidence containers, and wherein the transportation container holds the evidence containers with the first set of the evidentiary materials;

a transportation container identification label attached to the transportation container, wherein the transportation container identification label is comprised of a unique machine readable indicia and a listing of the machine readable indicia and a corresponding human readable indicia particularly identifying the evidence tags attached to the first set of the evidentiary materials in the transportation container;

a central server, wherein a case identifier for the case is stored in the central server, wherein the unique machine readable indicia is associated with the case identifier in the central server, wherein a plurality of evidence entries are stored in the central server and are correlated to the case identifier in the central server, wherein the evidence entries comprise a plurality of alphanumeric codes and a plurality of descriptions, wherein the plurality of alphanumeric codes correspond with the machine readable indicia on the plurality of evidence tags, and wherein the plurality of descriptions correspond with the first set of the evidentiary materials and are respectively correlated with the alphanumeric codes in the central server; and

a handheld communication device in networked communication with the central server, wherein the handheld communication device comprises a computer processor, a memory, a display screen, and an input device, wherein a set of the evidence entries are entered into the computer processor through the input device and stored in the memory, wherein a search term is entered through the input device, wherein the computer processor performs an internal search of the memory for the search term and provides an internal search result on the display screen, wherein the handheld communication device sends the search term to the central server in an external search request, and wherein the handheld communication device receives an external search result from the central server for the search term.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of evidence tags further comprise the human readable indicia corresponding with the respective machine readable indicia.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the central server comprises an alert system associated with the evidentiary materials, wherein the alert system comprises a plurality of notification options comprised of a future trigger date and at least one action corresponding with the future trigger date.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein a second set of evidence tags are attached to a second set of the evidentiary materials, and wherein the transportation container holds the second set of the evidentiary materials with the second set of evidence tags.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials are removable from the transportation container without destruction of the transportation container and without removal of the first set of evidence tags and the second set of evidence tags from the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials, respectively.

15. A method for collecting and tracking evidentiary materials identified during an investigation of a case, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an evidentiary kit, wherein the evidentiary kit is comprised of a plurality of evidence containers, a plurality of evidence tags, and a transportation container, wherein the evidence tags comprise a machine readable indicia and a human readable indicia;

collecting a first set of the evidentiary materials in the evidence containers;

attaching a first set of the evidence tags to the evidence containers;

holding the evidence containers in the transportation container with the first set of the evidentiary materials;

attaching a transportation container identification label to the transportation container, wherein the transportation container identification label is comprised of a unique machine readable indicia;

storing a case identifier for the case in a central server;

associating the unique machine readable indicia with the case identifier in the central server;

entering a plurality of evidence entries in the central server, wherein the evidence entries comprise a plurality of alphanumeric codes and a plurality of descriptions, wherein the plurality of alphanumeric codes correspond with the machine readable indicia on the plurality of evidence tags, and wherein the plurality of descriptions correspond with the evidentiary materials;

correlating the evidence entries to the case identifier in the central server;

correlating the plurality of descriptions with the alphanumeric codes in the central server

performing an internal search of the evidence entries for a search term in a local memory of a networked computer in remote communication with the central server;

obtaining an internal search result from the local memory of the networked computer;

sending an external search request from the networked computer to the central server with the search term for the evidence entries; and

receiving an external search result from the central server for the search term.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

attaching a second set of evidence tags to a second set of the evidentiary materials;

holding the second set of the evidentiary materials in the transportation container; and

removing the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials from the transportation container without destruction of the transportation container and without removal of the first set of evidence tags and the second set of evidence tags from the evidence containers and the second set of the evidentiary materials, respectively.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of evidentiary kits for a plurality of cases involving a plurality of corresponding victims, wherein the evidence kits have a plurality of respective transportation container identification labels and corresponding evidence containers, evidence tags, and transportation containers;

providing the human readable indicia for the evidence tags on the respective transportation container identification labels;

entering a plurality of victim names to the central server, wherein the victim names are associated with individual ones of the evidentiary kits according to the transportation container identification labels; and

associating the victim names with a plurality of respective case identifiers in the central server.