July 27, 2017 | Barb Carr

Interviewing and Evidence Collection: Prepare to Record the Scene

In TapRooT®, we use a mnemonic to quickly remember what types of evidence we may want to collect after an incident occurs: 3 Ps & an R. This stands for:

People evidence
Paper evidence
Physical evidence and
Recording evidence.

Recordings may include any photographs or video you capture. It may also include archived recordings such as computer data or security video.

Today, I have some quick reminders about things to consider in preparation of recording the scene (video or photographs).

First, ensure the battery is fully charged. I know, this is elementary right? Well, it is until you don’t do it and the battery dies in the middle of recording.

Second, remember to turn on the time and date display functions. Then, you will have an automatic record of when the video was recorded or the photographs were taken without writing it down anywhere.

Third, clear the area of people. Why? You do not want to record any embarrassing or inaccurate statements on video, and you don’t want to place people at the scene who were not there originally on video or in a photograph.

To learn more about evidence collection, join me in Houston, Texas in November for a 3-day root cause analysis and evidence collection course, or just 1 day of evidence collection training.