Dutch Institute of Forensic Medicine uses RFID to manage criminal evidence
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The Netherlands Institute of Forensic Medicine (NFI), a government agency that specializes in collecting and evaluating crime scene evidence,An RFID system has been adopted to track the 100,000 pieces of evidence collected by the organization each year, such as guns and knives, Cigarette butts, hair samples and other items.The evidence was put in a plastic bag at the crime scene and postedAttach the EPC Gen 2 RFID tag.
This system can record the custody history of each piece of evidence.When allegations are irrelevant to the case, relevant personnel can track the flow of evidence.If the evidence is in an unauthorized situationIf it is moved, the system will automatically notify the NFI administrator.
This system is implemented by Atos Origin, and the project may be the first tracking object in the Netherlands.Diversified item-level RFID applications, said Johan Klunder, the company’s RFID project manager. The Fire Department in Travis County, Texas, uses a similar system, but on a much smaller scale.
Atos Origin began designing and implementing the system in early 2007. Earlier this month, the Dutch Ministry of Justice (in charge of overseeing the NFI) officially unveiled the system to replace the old system based on barcode labels and handwritten records.
NFI hopes that this system can reduce the workload and manual tracking errors, which are shared by investigators and prosecutors.Errors caused by evidence.In addition, NFI is also facing such a problem: the 26 police district envoys across the countryUsing different coding systems, as a result, the evidence sent to the NFI from different regions has the sameNumber.
At the crime scene, the police put a label on the plastic bag containing the evidence.The tag includes an RFID inlayBody, readable text and a barcode serial number.Then, the police posted a note on the form that recorded the evidenceSmaller label with the same barcode.
Evidence in a plastic box
The plastic bag is placed in a plastic box and transported to a service entrance of the NFI. At the entrance, the RFID reader installed at the entrance read about a dozen tags for the first time.The worker opens the crate and collectsCollect documents and evidence, and then use a handheld reader to read the tags again.
The project partners are currently working on developing an automatic reading station, Klunder said, similar to the airport’sBaggage scanner: the evidence is sent through a belt to a tunnel reader, which reads the plastic bagRFID tags and take photos of the evidence.This customized equipment is expected to be completed by the end of this year, he addedFull said.
The NFI headquarters has four floors and seven independent departments, such as specializing in DNA, fingerprints, ballistics, or digital evidence. Klunder and his team divided the building into 25 zones, each with two entrances and exits. The staff installed RFID readers at each of the 50 entrances and exits. Once the evidence has been collected, the employee must send the evidence to the correct department with a cart or manually. In this process, when the tags are moved from one area to another, the tags are read one by one. By calculating the reading time difference, the system can determine whether the evidence is transferred into or out of a zone.
Workers must scan their badges to enter the safe area so that system managers can judgeWhich worker moved which evidence, and at what time.The system communicates with sound and visual warningsLet the staff know that all tags have been read. In addition, if someone attempts to move the labelled evidence outside the building or an unauthorized area, the system triggers an alarm.
A piece of evidence may remain in the NFI for several months and move between different departments many times. Relevant personnel estimate that at any given time, the agency keeps an average of 400,000 pieces of evidence. Klunder said that he expects the system to have 800,000 reads a year.
This system uses GlobeRanger’s application software.Reader connects to GlobeRangeriMotion Edgeware server, which filters and interprets read data while also controlling alarms. Feig Electronic provides RFID readers, while Alien provides RFID tags.
The Dutch Institute of Forensic Medicine has not yet estimated the return on investment of this system, and the purpose of adopting the system is to improve evidence management procedures.
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