Chain of Custody

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We previewed it in other modules and other lessons,

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and now we're getting to it. We're going to talk about in module and less than 2.4,

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the chain of custody in the concept of chain of custody.

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In this video, we're going to talk about what is chain of custody and why is it so important?

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology defines chain of custody as a process that tracks the movement of evidence through its collection, safeguarding and analysis lifecycle by documenting each person who handles the evidence, the date and time it was collected or transferred. And the purpose for any transfers.

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Chain of custody is so vital

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because without a proper documentation off, who had the evidence why they had the evidence what they did with the evidence

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when they did that with the evidence, it's impossible to separate

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activities taken

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bye,

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the analysis team and the experts

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and the normal operation of the evidence.

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It's also very hard to

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argue that some piece of evidence wasn't manipulated

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if there's no tracking, no way to identify what occurred,

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how the safeguarding occurred,

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what was done during the analysis process,

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then

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what's known as the chain of custody being broken will occur

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and the admissibility of the evidence, the reliability of the findings

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will also be called into question.

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So it's

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vital, very important, that

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chain of custody be properly maintained

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because this is the start of that process. This is the start of documentation, and this is where

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the most important piece

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of documentation will occur because a simple break in the chain of custody will affect the admissibility of the evidence.

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In this video we discussed, What is the chain of custody