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Date: 12/02/25 Revision: NEW Reviewed: NEW HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE CHAD CHRONISTER , SHERIFF STANDARD OPERATING PROCED URE Number: GEN 504.023 Page: 1 of 4 SUBJECT: DIGITAL EVIDENCE I. PURPOSE : The purpose of this standard operating procedure is to establish guidelines for the collection, handling, and processing of digital evidence . II. SCOPE : This procedure shall apply to all Sheriff’s Office personnel who are responsible for request ing, receivi ng, and processing digital evidence . III. DISCUSSION : Computers, cellphones, digital cameras, and other devices that contain digital evidence must be properly collected, handled, and processed to preserve the integrity of the data and ensure their evidentiary value in legal proceedings. Due to the sheer number of devices encountered during investigations, full forensic examination of every device is not feasible. For investigations of misdemeanors, property crimes, and others as deemed appro priate, reas onable steps should be taken to memorialize digital communications or other digital evidence on scene, in lieu of device collection for forensic analysis . IV. DEFINITIONS : A. Axon Capture - An application for cellular phones that allows for the collection of multimedia for the purpose of evidence. B. Axon Community Request - Located within the Axon Capture mobile application , as well as the Evidence.com web application. Community Request allows agency personnel to collect various forms of digital evid ence quickly and securely from victims and/or witnesses. Files are uploaded from the Axon Capture application directly into Evidence.com review and storage. The collection and preservation of digital evidence can be time sensitive , and these applications allow for the expedited and simplified collection of digital evidence. C. Category - Means of identifying and grouping similar types of digital evidence including, but not limited to: Alarm Call (with no crime); Baker Act; Child Abuse/Neglect ; Citizen Contact (no LEO action); Degree of Crime; DUI; Elder Abuse/Neglect; Felony involving Death; Fraud; Injury in the Line of Duty; Juvenile Offender; Missing Persons/Runaways; Pursuit (vehicle or foot); Search Warrant; Street Encounter; Traffic Crash (citizen); Traffic Crash (involving death); Traffic Stop; Training; and Use of Force. Categories are used to set retention periods and viewing permission s within the D igital Evidence Management System . D. Chain of Custody - The physical handling of prop erty or evidence, and the electronic record of the continuity of custody of items collected as physical evidence, whether at the crime scene or elsewhere. The connotation under the law is that the items inroduced into court at the time of trial must be pr oven to be the same as initially obtained from the crime scene. E. Digital Media/ Evidence - Information and data of value to an investigation that is stored in, received, or transmitted by an electronic device which may be used during criminal prosecutio n or a civil court case to establish a case and to prove facts of a crime before GEN 504.023 12/02/25 Page 2 of 4 a court of law. Examples include various forms of digital content, such as text, audio, video, images, zip files, and device extractions, among others. F. Evidentiary Recor dings - A recording of an incident or encounter that could prove useful for investigative or other purposes, such as a crime, arrest, citation, search, a use of force, a confrontational encounter with a member of the public, or any event that may give rise to civil litigation. Evidentiary recordings are usually further categorized by specific incident type, and the retention period is governed by Florida evidentiary rules and public records laws. G. Individual Request - A platform which enables the invite of specific individuals to provide evidence via email or SMS. H. Metadata - Specific information, whether captured by the system or by the user, used to identify recordings including, but not limited to: deputy identification, date and time captured, event number, final call type, title, and tags. I. Triage Submissions - A process by which a user accepts or declines items submitted by a victim, witness, business, etc. via an Axon Community Request. V. PROCEDURE : A. Collection and Documentation 1. Digital Evidence collected from external entities such as victims, witnesses, businesses, etc. may be collected and uploaded to Evidence.com or through an Axon Community Request . If this is not feasible or personnel believe it is in the best interest of the i nvestigation to collect the evidence in another manner, it may be handled in accordance with GEN SOP 504.02 . 2. Recovering video from video surveillance systems is not a forensic function and personnel are encouraged to recover this data on scene. Person nel needing assistance with video surveillance systems can contact the Digital Evidence Section for advice or assistance. 3. Digital evidence should be collected and preserved in its original form and original state, whenever possible. 4. Depending on the type of digital evidence, it may be received fr om various sources. a. Axon Community Request is the preferred method of collecting digital evidence from external sources such as witnesses, victims, surveillance video, etc. (1) The deputy/detective will send