4-224 - Employee Cell Phones and Recording Devices Used to Capture Evidence

Employees shall only use department-issued recording devices, including but not limited to Body Worn Cameras, Mobile Video Recorders (MVR), and department-issued cell phones and digital cameras, to capture video, audio and photographic data.

All electronic data that could be considered evidence, when captured by an MPD-owned device while on duty or off duty in any capacity, or when captured by another device during the course of an employee’s duties, is considered to be government data and the property of MPD and may only be distributed in accordance with department policy. (See P&P 4-501 Confidential Department Records, Reports and Information.)

The mandatory protocol for transferring captured evidence from an employee’s device to MPD custody is as follows:

Evidence from cell phones

All photographic images or video captured using a cell phone shall be immediately uploaded into evidence.com and labeled according to the uploading and classification standards in P&P 4-223 Body Worn Cameras.

Evidence from digital cameras

1. All evidentiary photographic images captured using a digital camera or recording device shall be immediately uploaded into evidence.com or into the Digital Information Management System (DIMS) in accordance with P&P 4-217 Digital Cameras and Digital Information Management System (DIMS). Images uploaded into evidence.com shall be labeled according to the uploading and classification standards in P&P 4-223 Body Worn Cameras.

2. Images captured by Property and Evidence unit staff documenting evidentiary items shall be uploaded according to the Property and Evidence unit procedures.
3. All video captured using a digital camera or other recording device shall be immediately burned to a CD/DVD and inventoried.

Evidence from Body Worn Cameras (BWCs)

BWC data shall be uploaded in accordance with P&P 4-223 Body Worn Cameras.

Evidence from Mobile Video Recorders (MVR)

MVR data shall be uploaded in accordance with P&P 4-218 Mobile and Video Recording (MVR) Policy.

The cell phone or recording device may be subpoenaed at a later time by defense attorneys to be subjected to a forensic analysis. The device may be retained on a litigation hold for an extended period of time.

For a forensic analysis:

1. The cell phone or other recording device containing evidentiary photos or recordings shall immediately be inventoried. The minimum turnaround time for processing is 24 hours, and the process could take up to a few weeks.

2. Employees shall provide the lock code to the device (if applicable) so the Crime Lab can access the data stored on the device.
3. In the process of a forensic analysis, all content stored on the device which captured the evidentiary photos or recordings shall remain unchanged. Text messages, photos, emails or other data stored on the device shall not be modified or deleted. This includes all content not related to the data captured as evidence.
4. The Crime Lab will process the evidence in the same manner all other phones or recording devices are handled. No exceptions will be made.
5. “Processing” a phone or other recording device means all of the current data on the device could be extracted (not just an individual photo or recording), depending on the nature of the litigation. The data that could be extracted includes:

• Call history
• Text messages
• Contacts list
• All images
• All video
• All audio
• Deleted data files

6. A copy of all the court-ordered extracted data will be provided as part of an evidentiary request. This is standard procedure and personal or other unrelated data captured on phones or recording devices will not be redacted or deleted.
7. Once processing is complete, the device will be returned to the Property and Evidence unit and a release from an investigator must be entered prior to retrieval by the employee.