BACS Evidence Management System The Real ROI White Paper Developed with the Assistance of North Andover Police Department
About North Andover Police Department (NAPD) The town of North Andover in Massachusetts, located just 24 miles north of Boston, is home to roughly 28,000. NAPD has a stellar reputation, earning the highly regarded Massachusetts State Accreditation distinction in 2010. With a brand new police headquarters, Chief of Police Paul J. Gallagher sought a better solution for storing evidence than their prior keyed locker system with its inherent inefficiencies. In March of 2012, the North Andover Police Department (NAPD) announced its intent to implement the new LEID Products BACS Evidence Management system. Installed in August of 2012, the system comprised of Electronic Evidence Lockers and BACS Evidence Management ID Station Kiosk provides access and tracking capabilities for evidence moving into and out of the police department property room. Based on more than a year of experience with the BACS System, the information pertaining to NAPD - facts and figures collected and reported in this paper - are as reported by NAPD Detective and Property Control Officer, Dan Cronin. About Detective Dan Cronin Detective Daniel Cronin is a 22 year veteran of NAPD. He started as a patrol officer and moved his way up the ranks quickly to hold the position of detective. Cronin s duties include evidence control officer, crime scene services and the latent print examination to name a few. He is a member of The Fingerprint Society, the International Association of Identification, the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association and the New England Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. ABOUT LEID PRODUCTS Law Enforcement Intelligent Devices (LEID), LLC is the manufacturing leader of electronic locker and cabinet storage with biometric asset protection and control. Originally founded to assist police departments in securing guns, weapons, radios, etc. through an electronic tracking and fingerprinting system, LEID products are also utilized to track books within a library system, medical supplies, laptops and even business documents to selected personnel. Their Biometric Access Control Systems (BACS ) streamlines operations and provides full accountability for critical business assets. For more information and demonstrations of our products, visit www.leidproducts.com. 2 of 10 P a g e
Introduction On a regular basis, one can find law enforcement agencies that are under scrutiny as a result of allegations of improperly handled evidence and property. The property and evidence function is a critical task. Often it is not recognized just how important this function is until the evidence in a criminal case is lost, pilfered or contaminated, and the In this White Paper department is facing outside scrutiny from the public, media and members of the court. Trends Evidence to be presented in court must be handled in a scrupulously careful manner with detailed chain of custody documentation to avoid defense challenges. The chain of custody requires that from the moment the evidence is collected, every transfer of evidence from person to person be documented and that it be provable that nobody else could have accessed that evidence. NAPD s Evidence Challenges NAPD s Evidence Solution How BACS works BACS Benefits for NAPD BACS Return on Investment Trends Rise in Chain of Custody challenges in criminal court cases Increasingly, defense lawyers look for the weakest link in chain of custody to compromise the case of the prosecution toward acquittal or to overturning a guilty verdict upon appeal. Temporary storage of evidence is often where the chain of custody is called into question - from the time the officer drops off the evidence, usually in keyed lockers, to the time the evidence is retrieved by the property control officer. The importance of chain of custody and law enforcement s related burden and responsibility came into the public eye in the widely publicized O.J. Simpson murder trial 19 years ago, Simpson was acquitted after a trial that lasted more than eight months. Crucial pieces of evidence were not allowed to be used by the prosecution due to lapse in provable chain of custody. Increased court cost to tax payers When the chain of custody is called into question by the defense, the property control officer and the officer in possession of the evidence before dropping off to temporary 3 of 10 P a g e
storage, must both be present in court to be questioned. The cost of court appearance for two officers is considerable. Not only are the officers not available for their regular duties, much of their time in court is spent waiting and often is paid at overtime rates, with taxpayers footing the bill. Increase in Police Departments Desiring Accreditation Over the past decade there has been significant growth in Police Departments seeking national or state level accreditation. Law Enforcement Accreditation is a Badge of Honor in the Law Enforcement Profession. Being certified or accredited - accreditation is the higher of the two programs - is symbolic of an agency s commitment to professional excellence in the workplace. It means that the agency has agreed to adopt Program standards as a way of doing business and Program standards are considered best practices for police departments, administratively and operationally. According to the Massachusetts State Accreditation Commission, since 2007 the total number of state agencies participating in the program as accredited, certified, or in the self- assessment phase has grown nearly 40% from 126 to 174 agencies. Property and evidence control is an important required standard at both the state and national level accreditation programs. A full chapter of the CALEA Standards is devoted to property and evidence control (chapter 84), stressing the agencies responsibility to protect all property coming into its control and custody and the ongoing obligation to maintain an uninterrupted chain of custody. NAPD s Evidence Challenges Prior to BACS System NAPD sought a better solution than their prior keyed locker system with its inherent short comings. Common to many police departments, the problems Chief Gallagher and Detective Cronin wanted to address were the following: Property with missing paperwork Often Detective Cronin would retrieve evidence from the old lockers which had no paperwork attached, requiring wasted time and effort to track down which officer on duty deposited the evidence in the locker and how it needed to be processed. 4 of 10 P a g e
Property with incomplete paperwork Officers also frequently left paperwork with incomplete information and no instructions as to what needed to be done with the evidence for processing (held for court? Fingerprint analysis? DNA testing?). Again, costing the property control officers time to track down the officer to rectify the proper processing on the property. Lack of time and date stamp Often evidence may sit in the lockers over the weekend before retrieved by one of the two property control officers, leaving an inadequate report and proof of the time and date evidence was placed in the locker. Time intensive manual logging Property control officers were required to manually log evidence transfers into the current records management system, an inefficient and time consuming task, subject to human error. Inefficient process for an officer to retrieve evidence for court Officers needing to pick up evidence for court had to track down one of the property control officers to personally retrieve the evidence from the property room and document the transfer in person. Often this required the evidence control officers to be interrupted in the middle working on one of his other responsibilities. For example, Detective Cronin would have to leave an investigation to retrieve an officer s evidence for a court case. Overtime cost and time commitment for court If chain of custody was called into question by the defense, the department had to pay two officers - property control officer and the arresting officer - to appear in court to testify. Often the officers are being paid overtime to sit in court for multiple hours just waiting. 5 of 10 P a g e
NAPD s Solution of custody. The new system and features included: Detective Cronin worked directly with LEID Products to formulate a blueprint in terms of needed requirements to address the evidence inefficiencies and resolve the problems experienced with their old temporary evidence storage. NAPD s new state-of the-art BACS Evidence Management System is designed to streamline temporary evidence storage, processing, and provide unparalleled preservation of the chain Automated door locking electronic pass-thru lockers. Biometrically - via fingerprint scanner - accessed touch screen computer kiosk restricts access to authorized personnel. Electronically documented chain of custody including: time, date and biometric signature identifying of officer depositing or retrieving evidence Barcode reader to scan and read the case barcode generated by current records management system (Pamet). Ability to customize BACS software s officer input fields to meet NAPD s specific processing terminology: reason for dropoff (safe keeping, court, etc.), what needed to be done for processing (DNA testing, fingerprint analysis, etc.) and an additional input field for officer to input special instructions via touch screen keyboard. Ability to store evidence with restricted access to specified officer to retrieve evidence for court. User-friendly touch screen kiosk with intuitive software for ease of use. Computer tracking and monitoring of user and locker activity via web-enabled administrative interface. On-demand real-time activity report generation. 6 of 10 P a g e
How it Works Officers deposit and/or retrieve evidence through a self-service kiosk without having to track down the evidence officer. The BACS Evidence Management ID Station Kiosk houses a biometric ID reader for access verification and barcode reader for case and property number identification. The user-friendly BACS kiosk with touch screen navigation, prompts officers for all needed information. The ID Station is interfaced to LEID s Electronic Evidence Lockers providing secure temporary storage of evidence. The officer chooses from the available lockers on the screen and the locker opens automatically. Once a locker is accessed to deposit evidence, the locker remains locked and only accessible by the evidence control officer. Evidence is retrieved from the rear access into the permanent property room. All needed processing information is electronically documented to accurately and efficiently complete the transfer. Early every weekday morning, NAPD property room managers load evidence lockers with all evidence needing to be retrieved that day for court. The lockers containing the evidence for court can only be accessed by the officer the property manager has assigned for pick up. The property room managers can access the BACS system remotely through the web interface to monitor and manage evidence. Chain of custody reports by property number, case number, and/or officer, are quickly and easily generated. 7 of 10 P a g e
BACS Benefits for NAPD Detective Cronin provided his opinion as to the value of the system. His detailed responses to questions are listed below: 1. What was the most important requirement in terms of what you wanted to accomplish by using the BACS Evidence Management System? Streamline the evidence/property intake process and improve the chain of custody. 2. What would you say are the biggest benefits the BACS System provides? How would you explain to another department what the value is to having the system as opposed to what you had before? The chain of custody at the initial intake of evidence/property is significantly improved. 50% reduction in property control officer hours needed to take in and process property. Substantial reduction in officer overtime cost for court appearances. The ability to place evidence/property in the system for an officer to pick up for court or return to the owner, instead of requiring an in person hand-off, has been a significant time saver for both the evidence control officer and the officer needing to pick up evidence for court, etc. The system requires the officer dropping evidence off to select what needs to be done with the evidence fingerprint analysis, DNA testing, safe-keeping, etc. again, saving time for the evidence officer and more importantly, safeguarding the accurate processing of property. 3. How has the response been from the officers required to use the system? We were concerned we may run into officer resistance to the new system, but the opposite has been true. We have had very positive feedback on the user-friendly kiosk, and our officers also like the elimination of a few steps of the intake process, making it one easy process. 4. Do you have any other comments working with LEID? LEID s ability to work with NAPD to custom fit the system was exceptional. 8 of 10 P a g e
ROI - The Results and Return on Investment LEID Products installed the BACS Evidence Management System in the North Andover Police Department in Massachusetts in August of 2012. With more than a year of use, North Andover Police Department has provided results in terms of facts and figures to provide other police departments a measure for evaluating investment in a BACS Evidence Management System. Time Saved by Evidence Control Officers = One Additional Officer Between Detective Dan Cronin s (head property control officer) time savings and the time saved by NAPD property control officer Robert Barter, Detective Cronin estimates the savings equates to having one additional sworn officer/year. The base salary of a new NAPD Patrol Officer in 2013 is $52,334. Reduced Court Cost Budget NAPD has seen a reduction in evidence called into question on chain of custody discrepancies, reducing man hours needed for court appearances and translating into a substantial reduction in overtime hours paid for court cost. Detective Cronin explained only 1/3 of the court cases compared to years past require two officers be present in court due to the electronically documented time and date stamp with biometric signature to prove evidence chain of custody integrity. Reduced Liability Exposure Minimizes an agency's exposure to liability, increases conviction rates, builds a stronger defense against lawsuits, and has the potential to reduce liability insurance costs. Property control officers save time equating to having one additional sworn officer. For NAPD, this equates to: $55,334/Year Use your Agency s budget line item for court cost and factor a 25% savings in court cost. If typical court cost is $150,000/year, savings equates to: $37,500/year 9 of 10 P a g e
Helps meet National and/or State Accreditation Requirements North Andover Police Department is among a select group of accredited police departments in Massachusetts, recognized for their commitment to continually strive to increase department efficiency and accountability to minimize exposure to liability and to enhance public reputation. In May of 2010, North Andover Police Department became the 29 th out of the state s roughly 350 police departments to earn the highly-regarded accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission; a designation they must re-earn every three years. North Andover successfully passed re-accreditation in April of 2013. Dan Cronin reported the Executive Director of the MA Commission, Donna Taylor Mooers, was extremely impressed with the BACS Evidence Management System. Mrs. Mooers reached out directly to LEID Products to request the company be one of just six suppliers invited to participate in the annual MA Police Accreditation Conference. Return on Investment Summary Financial ROI Payback Ranges 1.5 (NAPD) to 2 Years Minimize Exposure to Liability Potential Insurance Savings Meet Accreditation Standards Enhances Department s Reputation with colleagues and public The BACS system is fantastic! The North Andover Police Department is very happy with how easy the BACS Evidence System is to use. All of our officers agree that the system makes their jobs easier, said Chief of Police, Paul J. Gallagher. Dropping off evidence is a much faster process than ever before, and chain of custody has been significantly improved. I would highly recommend the BACS System to any department looking to improve property and evidence control and tracking. Click Here for a BACS Video Demonstration by Detective Cronin 10 of 10 P a g e