QuaLIS THumBs^®- A collaborative platform for forensic information management

Introduction

QuaLIS THumBs^® a collaborative platform for forensic information management, it is a secure and high availability web based system, designed for use by thousands of stake holders, across the police network and forensic science group with at most security. THumBs^® provides a complete framework of web services that help in managing case related service requests for attending sites, evidence collection and management at a central location, providing examination services, providing information on case history.

The Problem of the past

Typically operational police have a system to record the case information and related events that happen with respect to a case. Unfortunately there are very limited systems that give access to forensic service and also the feedback from forensics get lost in the paper world.

Paper based forensic casework files

• Increased casework backlog due to increased service demand, results in operational inefficiencies
• Lack of proper access to the case work information at the right time results in case delay
• Lack of traceability of evidence items, reports, documents etc
• Inefficient data management
• Lack of integration between different systems like Lab system, MIS, criminal database, ERP results in losing the chain
• Lack of automated fundamental management reporting and forensic intelligence

Core Strategy

The core strategy of the QuaLIS THumBs^® initiative is to improve the operational efficiency of FSL in managing the forensic process and, in particular, in managing the information resulting from the forensic analysis performed and improving timely access to that information. The figure below outlines the forensic process.

Figure 1- High-level generic end-to-end forensic process

There is also an expectation of seamless integration with any forensic service that forms part of the process across existing boundaries, both internal to FSL such as fingerprints and ballistics or external functions such as DNA analysis by DNA applications, to minimise data entry tasks, maximise integrity and throughput, and increase the number of positive identifications.

Supporting Strategies

The core strategy is to improve the operational efficiency of FSL in managing forensic work relevant to crime reduction. The principal supporting strategies are outlined below.

Full Lifecycle Tracking

Tightly coupled to the need for operational efficiency is the requirement to effectively track all forensic exhibits and samples across the complete life cycle of forensic processing from collection to dissemination of results, presentation at Court, and destruction of forensic samples. FSL must be able to record the exact location and status of all forensic exhibits under FSL control and provide a full audit history of forensic exhibit movements and associated system access in a consistent manner. There is potential for the use of barcode scanning and other supporting technologies to streamline the tracking overhead.

Management Visibility

A further element of the forensic management strategy involves the proactive analysis of data related to the effectiveness of the services being supplied by FSL and mechanisms for gaining feedback to further improve them. At a high level this covers general statistical management information reporting requirements and providing information on the operation of FSL to enable corporate level operational reporting. Supervisors will have a better framework to monitor and view case work, plan resource allocation, and monitor quality to support NATA accreditation criteria.

The ability to monitor the forensic workload and productivity across all the constituent steps of the process, both within the lab and externally:

• Allows proactive management to identify and minimise potential backlog build-ups before they occur
• Gives a baseline for better analysis of the costs involved to deliver forensic services
• Qualifies and quantifies the effectiveness of relevant forensic procedures
• Provides a decision making framework for further investment in forensic resources.

Information Sharing

Clearer visibility of the forensic process and a better expectation of when information will be available will be of significant value to investigating police. Similarly, access to the final results of an investigation where the forensic information contributed to a conviction (or not) would be invaluable in ascertaining the effectiveness of various forensic procedures and types of analysis used to gather evidence.

The intention of the FIMS initiative is to focus on improving the efficiency of the forensic processes intended to identify suspects. As information is generated through these processes it is imperative that the relevant material is made available to police in a timely manner such that it can be acted upon and used to inform, assist and direct investigations. This includes:

• Images
• Crime scene notes
• Laboratory reports
• Forensic exhibit tracking information
• Forensic analysis conclusions
• Matching results.

To achieve this FIMS should allow forensic information to be published, integrated with other systems, and made available to operational police using standard Intranet facilities, and open electronic interfaces. This access will be governed by appropriate user access management rights, security and audit controls.

The Solution

Fig. 3 –Modules within Thumbs Framework

Case Manager

Forensic group head or high level team can receive the requests and allocate the departments that will work on the requests the forensic group can decide on, which department (s) will work on the request and also prioritize the sequence of departments that will handle the items shipped for examination and also list the departments that will work on site visits, providing information etc.

Request Manager

FIMS provides a consistent interface for the investigating agency and service requestors for availing of service provided by the forensic group.  Requestors can create service requests for examination of items, providing information, requesting advice, requesting site & court attendance,  based on case details, along with details of collected evidence, manage shipment of evidence and also upload related electronic data like photographs, audio, video clips, documents and scanned records. All digital information can be directly streamed to a central storage server say at the forensic lab, or can be collected from a site using an offline module and can be later streamed to the central server when online.

Task Manager

Once the servicing department is allocated by the forensic head, department head can assign an appropriate team for executing the service. For lab related service, the team leader \ supervisor assigns the tests that need to be conducted on the item and also assign the case worker. In case of site visit, an appropriate team or person is assigned the task and the details are sent back to the forensic head for approval

Exhibit Manager

Items shipped to the forensic group are bar-coded. Upon receiving the item at forensic store the barcode is scanned and received through the system after checking the package condition.  Upon receiving the item, location of storage is recorded. Stores can receive requests for issue of evidence items for examination or court exhibiting.  Item issues receipts are recorded along with chain of custody.

Workflow Manager

Each discipline supervisor can create a test plan for the evidence items and assign case worker. Case worker can carry out the tests/analysis of the items (physical, chemical, digital). On completion of analysis, the observations can be entered manually or automatically captured from instrumentation. Complete traceability of result related metadata can be achieved by archiving original instrumentation data, reports, results etc through the system.

Fig 2 Workflow

Forensic Report Manager

The system has interactive data mining capabilities based on request details, case reference, dates and text search facilities. The documents within the content repository are highly secure and can be accessed with proper authentication. Case history is fully traceable based on case reference or request number.

Benefits

FIMS helps to increase the operational efficiency of Forensic related stake holders like the Forensic science department, Police and the court. It helps in managing the forensic processes. In particular, managing a fully traceable forensic process workflow and the information flow related to forensic analysis, while providing timely access to case related information. FIMS has been designed with a core platform that is fully flexible to be configured, customized and delivered for more effectively utilizing the value of forensic information at the right time.

FIMS integration with ECM

FIMS is tightly coupled with enterprise content management system extensively to handle the integration between the systems. The users and accounts between FIMS and ECM were shared, user accounts and account credentials for FIMS to use and access ECM was done in a secure manner. Similarly to upload, download files to ECM were done to achieve proper seamless integration between the two systems.