Policy Text
Page 1 of 4 16/16 (REV 08/18)
Media Based Evidence
The purpose of this General Order is to establish policy and gu idelines for the collection
and archiving of media-based ev idence including photography (fi lm and digital), audio
and video. I. Policy Statement
A. It shall be the policy of this agency to collect and store m edia-based
evidence in the best manner possi ble within the limitations of equipment
available, conditions of collect ion, and the time frames of the investigation.
B. The protocols in this Order a re intended to create a media-b ased evidence
collection system that meets t he highest standards possible. H owever, it
is recognized that training, equi pment and circumstances may li mit the
ability of personnel to completely comply with every element of this Order.
In those cases where collecti on and storage does not meet these
standards, personnel should docum ent the circumstances thorough ly.
C. Original media used to collect any evidence (photographic, a udio or video)
should be considered to be the best evidence and subject to all evidence
custody requirements. Any copies made of original media should be
noted as such. If the original m edia is a part of a larger sys tem (i.e. a hard
drive or built in flash memory , etc.) which is not conducive to evidence
storage, then the evidence should be transferred to a more prac tical
storage media (i.e. cassette, CD, DVD, DAT, etc.). This media would then
be considered the “original”.
D. When possible, evidence collect ed on digital media (audio, v ideo and
photographic) should be combined on a minimum number of compact
discs to maximize efficiency and mi nimize storage space for tha t case
number.
E. Units of the Sheriff’s Departm ent that perform specialized s urveillance
functions are exempt from comply ing with this Order when specia lized
equipment does not meet these standards.
Page 2 of 4 16/16 (REV 08/18) II. Photo and Copy Requests
A. The Sheriff’s Identification Bureau shall be responsible for developing any
(35mm) film. The ID bureau is r esponsible for obtaining copies of original
compact discs (CD) or digita l versatile discs (DVD).
B. Internal requests for photogr aphs to be developed from film or digital
photos shall be submitted using the standard Ident ification Bur eau counter
request form.
C. Requests for photographs from out side agencies shall be subm itted to the
Identification Bureau for b illing and tracking purposes.
III. Equipment and Media Standards
A. Film Photography
1. Authorized cameras and film
a. Only cameras using a st andard 35mm film format will be
used.
b. Only 35mm film process i n the C41 format will be used.
B. Digital Photography
1. Authorized cameras and media
a. All digital cameras used fo r evidence photography must
allow images to be saved at a minimum image size of 4.0
megapixels.
b. Images shall be collected in a digital jpg high quality form at
at no less than 4.0 megapixels . Trained personnel may use
the raw format for special applications.
c. Captured images will be copi ed to a non-rewritable CD-R
disc (Gold quality or better).
2. Image transfer from camera
a. Images will be st ored temporarily on the camera’s media
card or internal memory and t hen be transferred to a desktop
or laptop computer.
b. The images saved to a media card or camera memory shall
be placed in a card reader and/or downloaded directly to a
desktop or laptop computer.
Page 3 of 4 16/16 (REV 08/18)
c. The original image will be tr ansferred to the preferred CD-R
disc as described above.
d. The CD will be recognized as the original storage of the
evidence.
e. No alterations of the im ages obtained from the camera
memory or media card may be made while in the camera.
f. The person saving the images to the CD will confirm that all
files were completely and a ccurately copied by comparing
the file name, date and size for each digital image on the
disk with those previously sto red on the computer. Once
these files are verified and c opied to disc, they will be
deleted from the computer and memory card. An investigator may choose to maintain a “working copy”.
C. In accordance with this Order’s best evidence policy, if pos sible or
practical all digital evidence will be kept in its original nat ive file format as
to not lose any digital informa tion during a conversion process .
Forensically processed or clarified evidence may be saved in a different
file format, but in all cases t he original source file shall be kept and booked
as the original evidence.
Not withstanding the above parag raph and to maintain some unifo rmity in
digital evidence collection, t he following guidelines shall be used to save
digital evidence:
1. Digital audio file s shall be saved in a universally accepted file
format such as WAV or MP3 and c opied to an evidentiary quality
non-rewritable CD-R disc (G old quality or better).
2. Digital video files shall be saved in a universally accepted file
format such as MPEG II or Mo tion JPEG and copied to an
evidentiary quality non-rewrit