CD, DVD & Blu-ray Evidence
Discovery & Archiving Systems

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) has become one of the key methods of investigation and prosecution of criminals. Whether the cameras are fix-mounted in buildings or on the street, installed in police cars or monitor interrogation rooms, the amount of content captured is enormous. In many cases this camera content has to be distributed to officers for further investigation, given as evidence to court and has to be archived for a defined time.

It is obvious that due to the number of input devices and the amount of data, only a fully integrated, automated and reliable disc publishing system can handle the multitude of requests for discs with individual content. As spinning hard disks are not a cost effective way to archive content mid and long term, optical disc systems fulfill a second purpose in producing archival discs on Blu-ray or DVD.

The Rimage Everest DVD printer ensures permanent, archival direct-to-disc printing. Rimage systems can also print, and read, evidence bar codes on the surface of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

The needs of law enforcement agencies and investigators are complex and unique. Rimage has a network of special integrators that have designed and installed systems in large police departments and federal agencies. Contact us for more details on any aspect of storage or forensics.

• Seamless and fast integration in surveillance workflows and applications through Rimage’s powerful API.
• Integration partners that know your business.
• Rimage Everest thermal retransfer printer (the same technology used to print credit cards) allows you to record and print permanent, unalterable discs suitable for evidence.
• Efficient and speedy archiving of large amounts of security camera footage through Disc Spanning / Streaming features and Blu-ray drives.

Rimage Evidence Disc System Pro and Rimage EDS Enterprise disc publishing and disc duplicating systems can easily integrate into YOUR workflow – not the other way around. Adding the capability to automatically record and print CDs, DVDs, and Blu ray discs, from any PC, Mac, or other workstation on your network can have a profound effect on your productivity.

LV-CSI utilizes a Digital Information Management System called DIMS, provided by Linear Systems of Rancho Cucamonga, CA to input, manage and create chain of custody for their electronic evidence. From the moment a crime scene investigator downloads the data into
the DIMS system, the resulting images are managed by DIMS to ensure efficiency, speed and proper chain of evidence control. With approximately 500 cameras in the field for officer and investigator use, LV-CSI shoots over 25,000 crime scenes per year, producing nearly one million images annually. The agency also maintains a library of over four million legacy images shot on various film formats over the last fifty years. In the event that these images are needed for a case, they can be retrieved from the DIMS system for processing. Every image is tagged with searchable metadata that allows instant recall based on an array of relevant criteria such as case number, date, and photographer name. This evidence can be retrieved electronically with security permissions by allied agencies like the District Attorney. DIMS includes a ompletely redundant Storage Array Network (SAN) to make images available to secure workstations throughout the LV-CSI facility, as well as secure remote access by officers in the field. Access privileges are easily managed within DIMS to ensure only authorized officers can perform specific image-related functions. Every action taken in the system is logged in a secure file supporting detailed auditing processes.

C A S E S T U D Y : L A W E N F O R C E M E N T
C U S T O M E R: Las Vegas CSI
C H A L L E N G E: Manage and distribute millions of photo images while maintaining proper chain of evidence control.
S O L U T I O N:
• Linear Systems’ Digital Information Management System (DIMS)
• Rimage Evidence Disc System model 7100N
• Rimage Evidence Media Kits

The future of evidence management has already arrived in the Nevada desert. The real Las Vegas CSI shares some common ground with its fictional television namesake. Both agencies leverage groundbreaking technology to gather, process and distribute evidence that puts criminals behind bars. Although viewers are frequently amazed by the gadgets used in the CSI TV series, Dave Phillips, Photo Services Supervisor at Las Vegas Metro PD, often finds himself explaining his cutting edge digital evidence management system to other law enforcement agencies. Las Vegas CSI: On the Cutting Edge of Digital Evidence Management “The workflow we have developed by using the
Linear DIMS with Rimage has given us payback in a one year period.”
Dave Phillips,
Photo Services Supervisor
Las Vegas CSI

When images need to be distributed, the investigating officer uses the DIMS interface to select which images to export and with a mouse click sends the images to a networked Rimage Evidence
Disc System. The Rimage unit not only burns a single or multi-disc CD or DVD set, but also prints full color permanent disc identification information on the disc media. Unlike sticky labels or ink jet
printing, the patented Rimage Everest™ disc printing technology produces discs that won’t peel, smear or fade. LV-CSI uses Rimage Evidence Media Kits to ensure every disc is archival quality and
guaranteed to last at least fifty years. In years past, all of these images were printed on a commercial photo minilab, resulting in a significant number of unused prints. Now the minilab
automatically produces a single index print matching the digital photos on each disc, dramatically reducing the lab’s photo processing costs. The agency now produces between four and five thousand discs per year on a single Rimage Evidence Disc System. Phillips states, “The workflow we have
developed by using the Linear DIMS with Rimage has given us payback in a one year period when you consider previous film costs and overtime.” Linear Systems was able to integrate the Rimage Evidence Disc System into their DIMS platform quickly and easily using Rimage’s industry-leading Application Programming Interface (API). The Rimage API enabled Linear Systems to make the Rimage system completely transparent to officers utilizing DIMS so disc production became as easy as clicking a single button on the DIMS interface. The built-in functionality of the Rimage API allows solution integrators like Linear to add powerful features with minimal programming effort and support a range of Rimage Evidence Disc System models to fit any evidence management environment. Chris Parsons, President of Linear Systems, discusses the Rimage/Linear partnership. “As agencies using our DIMS product require a higher level of automation and efficiency, the Rimage
system provides high quality CD/DVD/ Blu-ray Disc™ media for investigators, attorneys, and an offsite archive. We were impressed with the Rimage platform and found that by integrating it
with DIMS, we can jointly provide the most powerful, cost-effective solution for digital evidence and chain of custody management.”

Providing an Integrated Output Solution for Guidance EnCase Software
To process its cases, the Department utilizes Guidance Software’s EnCase Forensic—the standard software tool for uncovering, analyzing and presenting forensic data that provides Belicki and his team a robust way to authenticate, search and recover computer evidence rapidly and thoroughly.The Rimage system’s easy-to-integrate technology platform has enabled the Department to seamlessly link EnCase with the system, creating an end-to-end solution.“The Rimage system works perfectly with the forensic software departments like ours are using throughout the country.The complete solution makes creating a disc as easy as sending a file to a laser printer.” Archiving Cases with Confidence With cases often appealed and defense teams raising questions years after the completion of a trial, the Department must have a fail safe process for archiving evidence. Using the Rimage system, master disc copies for each case are created and labeled appropriately.The Department now has a library of more than 7,000 discs. “If something was overlooked on a case, we can go back, load the disc and be confident the evidence has been stored properly.The fact we are using a combination of the Rimage system and gold media to archive our cases gives us all great confidence.” Custom Labeling Every Disc Creation Every disc the Department creates must be properly labeled with: a report number; the detective’s name; the type of crime or incident; an internal database number; the type of file; the number of duplicate discs; and a serial number. “The information we include on the label is essential for the district attorneys, case agents and our records.” The Rimage system enables the Department to automatically customize each disc label. Rimage’s thermal printer provides Belicki and his team an affordable method for direct-to-disc printing, delivering scratch-resistant quality and a level of resolution that makes the smallest, most precise details easily readable. The Rimage system is also a fully functional automated Blu-ray, CD, DVD Duplicator.