Keeping Evidence Technicians In Charge

New Building, New Challenges

With any growing precinct, the Waukesha Police Department found it had surpassed the limits of its current building and needed to design a newer, larger home base. As planning progressed, administrators began checking off their list of “must-haves” for the space.

One of which – driven by the realization that practically everyone has a smart phone or tablet – was to integrate USB charging capabilities within their evidence storage solutions that would allow electronics to be stored fully-charged and in the state of operation their owner left them. By doing so, digital evidence would remain accessible to technicians and protected from sophisticated but nefarious external entities.

Plug-In Placation

Despite employing alternative solutions including the use of Faraday Boxes, department heads knew they needed additional backup from their trusted partners at Spacesaver. Working with Spacesaver’s in-house engineering and design teams and local storage representative, the department was able to incorporate a bank of evidence lockers that would facilitate in-locker charging. Now, officers can keep a suspect’s portable electronic device (or in some cases, devices) safe, secure, and undeterred until the technician is ready to process it.

The end result was an engineered-to-order solution that offered a USB port in 8 of the 51 evidence lockers, each with pass-through capabilities to ensure a seamless transition from officer drop off to technician handling to use by the prosecutor’s office.