Evidence Storage and the Chain of Custody

They will typically contain individual lockers or secure containers for each investigation or investigator assigned to the facility.

This is to ensure evidence accountability and chain of custody is maintained at all times to prove evidence has not been modified or tampering has not occurred.

Evidence is protected against damage or theft, and appropriate environmental protections should be commensurate with evidence types stored (e.g., paper, digital, media).

Failure to properly maintain the chain of custody, or failure to properly protect the evidence from its first collection onwards, can end up having that evidence be inadmissible in any hearing, process, court action, or even for informal, internal troubleshooting.

Such failure to take due care of the evidence means that no one who looks at that evidence can have any certainty at all that the evidence has not been deliberately tampered with or falsified completely.

The mere suggestion that such tampering might have taken place can cause one party or another involved in the incident to rightly claim that they have suffered damage to their reputation, their business or income, or other damages.

For matters that have come to a court trial, the party who failed to maintain the chain of custody and protect the evidence may be held in contempt of court or charged with destruction of evidence or impeding a lawful investigation.