Commissioner's Directive

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Policy Bulletin 291

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POLICY OBJECTIVE

1. To ensure the preservation of a crime scene in order to safeguard against the destruction or contamination of evidence.

AUTHORITIES

2. Canada Evidence Act, subsection 38.6 (3.1) and section 40

Criminal Code of Canada, section 2

Corrections and Conditional Release Act, section 10

Royal Canadian Mounted Policy Act, section 18

CROSS-REFERENCES

3. Commissioner's Directive 568 - Management of Security Information

Commissioner's Directive 800 - Health Services

DEFINITIONS

4. Evidence: a proof in accordance with legal principles of the various elements necessary to establish that an offence took place.

5. Physical or forensic evidence: an actual physical evidence or trace of evidence that may be scientifically matched with a known individual or an identified item.

6. Cross-contamination: the adulteration of one piece of evidence with physical or forensic evidence from another piece of evidence (e.g. the transfer of blood, cloth fibres or hair from one article to another).

7. Medical emergency: an injury or condition that poses an immediate threat to a person's health or life which requires medical intervention.

RESPONSIBILITIES

8. The Institutional Head must designate a person responsible for performing the preventive security function and serving as the police liaison.

9. The Institutional Head must ensure that all the responsibilities referred to in CD 800 - Health Services are adhered to.

PROCEDURES

10. The preservation of life must take precedence over the preservation of crime scenes and evidence.

11. If a staff member other than a Correctional Officer comes across the scene of a crime, he or she must immediately control access to the scene to the extent possible until security staff take over.

12. If a computer is part of a crime scene, the senior local computer systems administration staff member must be notified immediately. That person must, in turn, notify the Regional Information Technology Security Coordinator (RITSC) of the event and ask for direction on how to properly protect any computer-based evidence. The local person must act as the local information technology security representative, under the direction of the Security Intelligence Officer and the RITSC unless or until the investigation is elevated to a higher level.

Response to Medical Emergencies

13. Refer to CD 800 - Health Services.

Protecting the Scene of a Crime

14. The scene of a crime is a delicate area and must be treated with the utmost care so as not to contaminate or destroy potential evidence. Therefore, the following minimum standards must be used to protect the scene of a crime:

1. establish a perimeter to protect the scene;
2. prevent any damage or further damage;
3. evacuate non-involved persons;
4. prevent unauthorized persons from entering the crime scene or contaminating any evidence;
5. when personnel who have no bona fide need to be on the scene insist on entering, record their names and the times they were on the scene, for court purposes;
6. maintain an accurate "scene log" of the names and the times that everyone enters or leaves the scene;
7. maintain control of the scene until relieved by a designated officer or by police; and
8. when another officer arrives to assume control of the scene, verbally confirm this as a fact and record the time and the person's name and rank.

Preservation of Evidence

15. The following steps must be taken to preserve evidence:

1. do not move anything unless absolutely necessary;
2. to the extent possible, avoid contamination of evidence;
3. photograph, if possible, before something is moved;
4. protect physical evidence from the elements;
5. record and identify any evidence found or moved (i.e. what, where, by whom and when);
6. maintain evidence in possession of the person who seized it until it can be handed over to police or properly stored using the chain of custody form or tag;
7. do not cross-contaminate evidence (i.e. keep each piece of evidence separate from other evidence);
8. use a paper bag for bloody items;
9. isolate witnesses from each other and other persons;
10. if a computer is part of a crime scene and no apparent attempt to destroy computer-based evidence has been observed, the computer should not be disturbed and the computer systems administration staff should be notified; and
11. if an apparent attempt to destroy or alter computer-based evidence has been observed (such as rapidly blinking hard drive access light), turn the computer off as quickly as possible and keep it safe from any unauthorized intervention.

Transfer of Responsibility

16. Responsibility for protection, preservation and continuity must cease when the scene of the crime and/or the evidence is taken over by the investigative body (i.e. the police or Security Intelligence Officer).

Commissioner,

Original signed by:
Don Head