The Silver City Police Department increases public safety by deploying the PRIMS solution along with the Flic Laser Bar Code Scanner.
Business Situation
Silver City Police Depar tment, New Mexico, receives evidence inventory of varying nature every day ranging from illicit substances, firearms to money. They are publicly accountable and bound by law to maintain this inventory from point of entry to discharge, as well as throughout various custodial transfers to other agencies, cour ts, and crime labs. Inventory is routinely checked out as exhibits for cour t cases, evidence of wrongdoing or sent to crime labs for forensics testing. Complete chain of custody documentation is required as evidence is transferred. Previous methods were paper based, inefficient, time consuming, and fraught with error. Accountability needed to be increased to avoid potential lawsuits or mistrials. Fur ther, the time and complexity required for managing evidence inventory needed to be significantly decreased. Silver City P.D. required a bar coded tracking solution that would much more easily tag and track evidence inventory over time throughout various stages of check in and checkout while maintaining proper chain of custody records.
Solution
Captain Chris Ponce sought out the Property Room Information Management System (PRIMS) from Kart Digital, a Microvision reseller. PRIMS utilizes the Simple and Affordable Flic Laser Bar Code Scanner as the primary bar code data capture device. PRIMS software fully supports the setup and integration of the Flic Scanner. Silver City P.D. required no trial as PRIMS has been installed and proven in Police Departments across the nation as well as within the Department of Homeland Security. Silver City P.D. quickly customized the PRIMS software to the department’s needs, and began using it immediately.
“As evidence custodian, an important feature of PRIMS is chain of custody reporting. Using the software in conjunction with the Flic Scanner makes it easy to track evidence whether it was sent to court, the lab, or it was released to the owner. Chain of custody reports become part of the case file and indicate who has handled the evidence each time it is scanned in and out of inventory." —Sgt. Javier Hernandez Silver City Police Department
Silver City P.D. required no trial as PRIMS has been installed and proven in Police Departments across the nation as well as within the Department of Homeland Security. Silver City P.D. quickly customized the PRIMS software to the department’s needs, and began using it immediately. By printing bar codes and affixing them to inventory as well as locations within the proper ty room, they could easily scan evidence in and out of inventory. In addition, the PRIMS solution creates the chain of custody record that accompanies evidence as it is checked in and out of inventory.
Benefits
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Productivity - Time consumed by manually managing evidence inventory records decreased from hours each day to minutes.
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Visibility and Accuracy – Solution affords authorized personnel real time access to property room inventory and accurate chain of custody records.
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Simplicity and Low Cost – The Flic Scanner is easy to use by personnel, requires no formal training, and is cost effective to operate using standard AAA batteries.
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Public Safety - Potential problems at trial, due to tarnished chain of custody records, are eliminated.