Preserving Biological Evidence
A significant resource will become available for law enforcement personnel and evidence technicians in the first quarter of 2013. The Biological Evidence Preservation Handbook: Best Practices for Evidence Handlers is a definitive guide for the handling of biological evidence. The guide was produced by the Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation and co-sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Institute of Justice. With a broad range of various backgrounds, the group produced the guide to, “create best practices and guidance on how to properly preserve, process, store, and track biological evidence to safeguard against contamination, premature destruction, or degradation.” The handbook addresses many aspects of biological evidence such as details on tracking the biological evidence chain of custody and best practices for temporary and long-term storage of biological evidence. Additionally, the Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation plans to develop a document that will describe the different evidence tracking technologies available.
Source: Forensic Magazine and Evidence Technology Magazine
[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]
Citation: Mayo, K. (2013, March/April). Preserving biological evidence. Evidence Technology Magazine, 11(2) Retrieved from http://www.evidencemagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1179&Itemid=26
