This could result in legal issues should defense question the location or existence of your contemporaneous notes while at trial. Then please continue to read the rest of the article as we dive deeper into the potential issues you are likely to face. Supreme Court Justice to Greg Smith, a well-respected UK expert in Digital Forensics states the following in regards to contemporaneous notes.
The ACPO guideline is very clear on the need to take detailed contemporaneous notes and disclose those to defense as required. Unfortunately, amongst many examiners there appears to be an incomplete understanding of what Contemporaneous Notes are. Some examiners believe that their notes can be altered without the need of being able to PROVE what the original note had stated when it was first written. To me, this means that if you are hand writing your notes, you must keep those original hand-written notes.
If notes are being produced electronically, then you must have a way to PROVE that the notes have not changed or been altered since they were created. Stuart expands on this statement, saying that modifying the original contemporaneous notes without keeping the original would be an example of witness impeachment. Stuart expands on the quotes above within our Contemporaneous Notes article where he answers the following question….
To see the answer to the above question and other questions regarding contemporaneous notes, please click here. Forensic Notes was intentionally designed to help mitigate any attempts discredit your notes, by allowing you to:. Source: Gov. The current regulator is Dr. Gillian Tully. This guide provides information on accreditation for all areas of forensic sciences including digital forensics.
The above highlighted section clearly shows that if electronic notes are used, mechanisms must be in place to ensure that the notes cannot be changed or altered. The following Digital Forensic books also recommend that contemporaneous notes be created during the examination.
Take a picture within our app, include it in your notes and have it timestamped in a couple of easy steps. Source: Book available on Amazon. Unfortunately, the criticism for having presented inadequate notes often embarrasses the officer, their service and the entire judicial system. This brings us to the obvious question: Why do incidents of poor note-taking continue to happen?
The Kaufman Report, which was further substantiated in a recent RCMP audit, cites a number of factors that contribute to poor note-taking. The internal audit reviewed a number of officer notebooks.
Although it concluded notes were being recorded in a timely manner and mostly compliant with policy requirements, there remains room for improvement. Notes must contain an accurate and complete account of police observations and activities and should answer the following very simple questions The following is not an exhaustive list since each unique situation will dictate what should be recorded :.
Officers have had difficulty testifying because they were unable to read their own writing. This becomes even more difficult with the passing of time. If notes are not legible, officers should have them transcribed and brought to trial along with the originals. In short, officers lose credibility because of sloppy or illegible notes. For this reason, all entries should be made in ink. It is advisable to include the reason in the notes when changing from the same ink pen i.
Simply, make notes by whatever medium is available given the circumstances and be prepared to justify and explain the reasons directly within the notes for using a different writing instrument. Notes will corroborate your credibility as a competent, thorough and fair officer. The Martin Report made it clear that police have an obligation to disclose the fruits of their investigation to the Crown, including all information that may assist the accused:.
The pre-existing duty on the part of the police to provide full disclosure to Crown counsel is as important as it is uncontroversial. In most circumstances, the police are the principal source of all information that subsequently becomes evidence in a criminal prosecution. The police, as the investigative arm of the state, have the primary responsibility for acquiring such evidence.
However, it is Crown counsel who must conduct the prosecution. Crown counsel cannot do so effectively or responsibly without being apprised of all that is relevant. Material that assists an accused may be particularly important, as Crown counsel must prepare to deal with such material in court. Alternatively, material favourable to the accused may lead Crown counsel to withdraw the charge, or require further investigation.
Police disclosure to the Crown is also important in that it allows Crown counsel to discharge his or her constitutional obligation to then disclose all relevant information to the accused.
In Ontario, full disclosure that is fair and objective is also governed by the Code of Offences. Police notes will be subject to examination and scrutiny by supervisors, Crown and defense counsel and judges. It is difficult to allege that additional notes were made at a later time if an officer leaves no spaces between entries. Some police services will include copies of all police notes within a Crown Counsel Brief.
Even if not originally included, they will often be forwarded to the Crown for disclosure purposes. The Crown must receive full disclosure and should be consulted in issues where any notes may compromise the integrity of an investigation.
Note: It is a common practice within some police services for police officers to leave a space at the end of each shift for the signature of a supervisor.
It is vital that consistency is maintained throughout a duty book. If a space is required to be left for the above purpose then such space must be left at the end of every shift. A police officer must be able to justify any and all entries, errors, omissions and deletions within his or her duty book.
The officer can record commonly referred to material at the back of their notebook. Should an error be made, draw a single line through the centre of the error, ensuring that it remains legible.
The officer should then place their initials on the line and continue with their entries. Where an officer makes a correction from their original notes, the current date and time should be noted. In addition, the officer should make an entry cross-referencing the original page number containing the error and stating why the correction was made after the fact. Forensic Notes allows you to create folders to help organize your investigations and digital notebooks. Notebooks can easily be dragged and dropped into different folders without affecting the content within the notebooks.
This feature is similar to moving physical paper notebooks into different storage boxes or shelves as required. Only an Administrator can create and move folders within a Team Account. This ensures that the integrity and organization of your folder structures remains consistent throughout your organization.
Folders can also be moved, deleted, and nested into other folders by the Administrator s. She has decided to have all notebooks organized by investigation file numbers followed by a brief description of the offence that is being investigated. To begin, she will create three new folders. NOTE: Repeat the above process for each new folder you wish to create. In our example, Det. Smith has created three 3 folders.
If you accidentally create a folder in the wrong location, such as nesting a folder inside another folder, you can simply:. Folders are not very useful without names. We recommend you name your folders in a way that is meaningful to you and your team. Each folder should have a unique name to identify the investigation. This will allow you. At some point you may want to delete a folder or notebook. If a folder or notebook contains a Timestamped note, it cannot be deleted. Forensic Notes prevents deletion to help protect individuals and organizations from accusations that important documentation was destroyed, accidentally or intentionally.
If you need to delete a Notebook for legal reasons, please contact us at [email protected] to discuss options. Smith will delete the auto-generated notebook which is created upon account creation within the root node.
When you first create an account with Forensic Notes, your first notebook is automatically created. You are not obligated to use this Notebook and can either use it, or simply delete it. Smith now wants to begin organizing the folders for the Robbery file that the team will begin working on.
To do this, Det. Smith selects the Robbery Folder and creates two new folders; one for each team member. Smith will name the folders with each of their names and their role in relation to the investigation.
Each investigator will now be able to create their own notebooks within their designated folders. Smith is now going to create a Notebook in her folder to document all her actions involved with this Robbery Investigation. This notebook is forensically sound for court purposes, but also allows changes as required to existing Timestamped notes.
Smith then re-named the notebook in the exact same manner as renaming a folder discussed above. For further information, refer to our Digital Forensic Documentation article. Chain-of-custody is yet another area that must be fully documented to ensure you and your organization can always account for where an exhibit was once it comes into your custody. When Det. Jones from the Robbery Unit arrives with exhibits, Det.
Renaming a note is completed in the same manner as renaming a folder or Notebook which was discussed above. Naming individual notes is NOT necessary , but it can be helpful later when trying to locate specific information. Therefore, coming up with standardized note names can be useful for finding information later in your investigation. They are only visible within the Forensic Notes application. Smith now begins to take notes regarding the intake of the exhibits by clicking into the editor box.
This will cause the popup toolbar to be displayed allowing you to format your notes as needed. Forensic Notes not only allows Det.
Smith to take contemporaneous notes about important documentation she has received, but also attach documents related to the investigation such as:. Smith decides she will attach both the internal work submission form and the warrant authorizing the search of the exhibits.
In fact, we encourage users to attach copies of all relevant documentation, images, and even videos, to ensure these types of files can also benefit the power of Forensic Notes. Notice that Det. Smith has not made note of the date and time she received the Exhibits. Under most circumstances, the Timestamp time will be relatively close to the time of the note.
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