OI-TECH Law Enforcement Evidence Tracking

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a state-of-the-art item, enabling optimized accountability and location tracking for the records, evidence and assets typical to law enforcement agencies. Items can be scanned from a distance using radio waves, providing the ability to passively track the movement of items, and to rapidly inventory and find items.

The underlying software is designed specifically for meeting the item management requirements of law enforcement and local governments, blending the benefits of indexing (tagging), bar coding and RFID to lock-down chain of custody and provide RFID evidence tracking.

The user interface is configured according to each customer’s preferred terminology/database fields and is designed to automate workflow consistent with current or preferred operational practices. Since the software is configured according to user requirements and design input, the software is easy to learn and easy to use, even for staff with limited computer skills. A single database license and server allows unlimited item-types to be configured within the software, to meet even the most demanding roll-out across local law enforcement and/or county government applications.

RFID radio frequency technology is achieved by placing RFID tags within or on items that are to be tracked. The RFID tag is  passive and does not emit a signal. The tag # is linked to each item’s serial # or ID #. When a RFID reader ‘reads’ items that are tagged/labeled, the radio wave powers the RFID transmitter (computer chip within the label) and sends back a message to the RFID reader identifying the item and its location.

Portable RFID readers are typically used to for rapid RFID evidence tracking and to find items that are ‘missing’.  Fixed RFID readers can be placed around doorways, or at any physical choke-point, to saturate walk-thru areas with radio waves to read/identify people and item(s) within proximity. Sirens, alarms, lights or more advanced access control and surveillance systems are available to control and monitor access to sensitive items.

Labels include RFID and bar codes for items (evidence, assets, records, etc.) and locations (shelves, rooms, vehicles, etc.) to track the exact locations of all items.RFID scans update the database and audit logs with item, person, place, direction, time and date.

The software can be configured to model individual items, item life-cycle management (maintenance/retention/disposition), officers/people and events. Complex parent-child database structures and data dependencies can be configured into the database schema. Actual data fields and content are configured around customer-specific requirements.

Additional Benefits of WMS

In addition to weapons tracking and gear accountability, WMS provides software components to track weapons cleanings, inspections, maintenance, test firings and similar functions. WMS also includes functionality to track and look-up weapons certifications, ‘Do Not Arm’ status, items-required-for-a-post, and similar database inquiries during transfer and return processing.A single database ‘instance’ of WMS can be further configured to model and track a wide range of additional items, such as records, evidence, assets, people, vehicles or similar entities. The software is available hosted, or can be installed on local server(s), with cross-platform support for Windows and Linux environments. WMS is scalable to unlimited item types, locations, users and records.