Déjà vu - securing valuables as evidence

Collin Greenland, Guest Columnist

Recent reports of the 'evaporation' of about 42lb of gold from the Half-Way Tree Police Station gives us a déjà vu feeling when one recalls a similar vanishing of funds from the custody of the Ministry of Finance's Financial Investigations Division (FID) in 2007.

At that time, the approximately $17 million stolen from a safe was money seized from the former reputed Matthews Lane strongman, Donald 'Zekes' Phipps, in 2007. At that time also, and in this very newspaper, this writer pointed out: "We do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are tried and proven methodologies routinely in use worldwide that we should consider in places like the FID and other property/evidence-storage locations in Jamaica."

The circumstances surrounding the missing gold allegedly seized from businessman Philipe Hadid, while attempting to export scrap jewellery on an American Airlines flight to Miami, should be less mind-boggling than the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Zekes' money in 2007. Hopefully, this time the competent Anti-Corruption Branch will not need to interview as many as 80 persons, as did the FID in 2007. Hopefully, after the FID experience, appropriate security and control features would have greatly reduce suspects at the Half-Way Tree Police Station from 80 to a more credible and manageable figure.

Chain of custody (among other things) is crucial in determining the validity and admissibility of valuables or other types evidence to the satisfaction of courts. Although the chain of custody can be secured and maintained in several different forms, there are established standards stipulated by most courts that law-enforcement officers and others (e.g., attorneys, investigators, fraud examiners, forensic accountants, etc.) should be aware of. These include a track of when the evidence came in; who checked it; where it was located; when it was moved; where it was stored and by whom; when it was signed out or by whom; when it came back; and how it was finally disposed of.

Jewellery, like cash, because of its very nature, requires additional security precautions. Other types of evidence requiring enhanced levels of security and safety include firearms, narcotics, precious metals, precious and semi-precious stones, collector coins and stamps, and negotiable instruments. Best practices suggest that, like currency, jewellery should be stored in a vault segregated from other types of evidence, independently keyed, and placed in an area which is covered by some type of intrusion alarm.

Policies and procedures

Modern-day property/evidence specialists have developed policies and procedures which, like other professions are applicable, regardless of the jurisdiction, circumstances or personnel. Some of these include the right of refusal, two-person rule, restricted access, highly restricted off-hours access, continued security through final disposition, and key and combination changes. For example, under the right-of-refusal policy, each property/evidence room employee must have the right to refuse to accept jewellery which is improperly packaged or incompletely documented.

This policy supersedes rank, so a constable, for example, should be able to tell an inspector that a collection of, for example, scrap jewellery is unacceptable until the inspector corrects the error or has someone else correct it. The two-person rule, for example, can mandate that in certain situations, two people must be present. This includes opening a jewellery container, entering the property room/vault/etc. outside normal business hours, and destroying property.

Jamaica must catch up with the rest of the world and implement electronic technologies to address security and safety requirements, especially with sensitive evidence such as cash and jewellery. Some technologies are characterised by a single identification mode and depend heavily on the card carrier's sensibility. These methods can be easily breached and include the use of personal identification numbers (PIN), photo identification, magnetic cards or proximity cards. The more advanced methods utilise biometric identification methods, proximity card/bar code readers, magnetic-strip card readers, fingerprint-scanning devices, handprint-recognition devices, facial-recognition devices and retinal readers. All these electronic systems can, and should, be used in conjunction with other alarm systems, intrusion alarms, duress alarms, alarm responses, video surveillance, and access logs.

Cutting-edge law-enforcement officers are now adopting new technologies with great velocity and are benefiting from innovations in all sectors of computing, applications, devices and environments. The current state of thin-client web environments with standardised mark-up languages (like XML) provides us with a very mature environment with which we can develop robust, portable, high-performance applications that refine the technology, provide new features, drive down costs, and improve performance. For example, three of the most relevant initiatives pursued by modern-day property and evidence managers are the Integrated Criminal Justice Information, the Global Justice XML Data Dictionary, and the Regional Information Sharing Systems.

More factors to consider

Other important factors to consider include the design and construction of the facility that will accommodate the evidence room/vault/etc., proper lighting (inside and outside), fire-prevention/-suppression features, and roof access. Recruitment of personnel (background checks, training, etc.) is key also, but that is another factor of HR consideration beyond the scope of this article. A review of the systems used by established national agencies such as Scotland Yard and the FBI may offer us good benchmarks to consider. In the US, in particular, professionals in this field have banded themselves into an impressive association called the International Association for Property and Evidence (IAPE), Inc., and our law-enforcement personnel can benefit by visiting their website: http://www.iape.org.

IAPE has helped to establish recommended standards for all property and evidence departments and is dedicated and committed to provide education and training pertaining to all aspects of the handling, storage, maintenance and disposal of law enforcement-held property and evidence. In addition, possibly the most comprehensive book ever written about the management of the property and evidence function is Property and Evidence By The Book, authored by Joseph Latta, the executive director of IAPE. This publication is designed to assist managers, supervisors, and all property-room personnel, and includes certification standards, definitions, explanations, concepts, forms, photos, case studies and policy elements.

If I am sure that our law-enforcement personnel would not only read it, but apply the principles of this book, I would gladly purchase a few copies for the training school. Is the problem however, lack of knowledge, or lack of will to reform?

Collin Greenland is a forensic accountant. Comments may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com and cgreeny.collin@gmail.com.