RFID System Keeps Track of Evidence（13.56&915）

RFID System Keeps Track of Evidence

　　来源:RFID Journal　　

With an RFID-based evidence-tracking system already being tested by law officials, Pro Squared says it will launch an expanded version by early 2006.
Feb. 23, 2005—Building on an RFID-based system being tested by Indiana's state arson investigators, RFID startup Pro Squared says it will deliver an RFID-based evidence-tracking system ready for deployment by federal, state and local law officials by early next year. RFID will offer significant benefits over bar code labels that many police departments currently use to track evidence, according to Pro Squared.

The RFID system used in the Indiana pilot had been developed by longtime RFID systems developer Sysgen, which sold its RFID business in late 2004 to Pro Squared—a Houston-based division of IT project management company The Project Group. Indiana's state arson investigators had used bar coded labels prior to deployment of the trial RFID-based system in late 2003.

"Bar codes get dirty or scrapped off by accident, and read rates were around 80 percent," says Feldman. "The RFID system is achieving rates between 98 and 99 percent," meaning that 98 percent to 99 percent of read attempts result in a successful reading of the tag data. The Indiana trial has used around 1,500 passive 13.56 MHz RFID tags made by Texas Instruments, with five Texas Instruments readers deployed in a number of buildings where Indiana state arson investigation material is stored. State arson investigators use the system to identify and trace evidence collected from arson sites.

According to Pro Squared, tracking evidence—at the crime scene, during a criminal investigation and presentation in court, and while in storage—is an operation that is vital to the functioning of the U.S. legal system, but sometimes mistakes are made by law enforcement personnel. Last year, for example, the Houston Police Department said it had found 280 mislabeled evidence boxes in the department's property room.
Pro Squared says it will approach the Houston Police Department with the goal making Houston the first pilot site for Pro Squared's RFID-based evidence-tracking application. "We want the first beta to be in testing with the Houston Police Department by August this year," says Raphael Feldman, president and CEO of Pro Squared. Feldman expects its first commercial system to be available in February next year. Until then it will be available only for demonstration to the law enforcement community, says Pro Squared.

The demonstration system would deploy a mix of passive 915 MHz UHF RFID tags from Alien Technology and 13.56 MHz HF tags from Texas Instruments, depending on the requirements of each situation and the nature of the items of evidence set for tagging. Using the system, law enforcement personnel would be able to put RFID tags on evidence and record important details about each tagged item. Investigators could use PDAs with RFID readers to do this as they collect evidence at the crime scene, or they could bag evidence, label it with a numbered or bar-coded paper tag and record details in a book, as they have traditionally done, and then put RFID tags on the items and enter the item details into a database after they bring the items back to the evidence room.
"Using the mobile capability of the PDAs would mean a change in evidence-collecting processes, which would take a while to get used to, so we expect police departments to go with the existing bag-and-tag process," says Feldman.

Once the evidence is tagged, the details of the item along with the unique serial number of the RFID tag attached to it is recorded into a Microsoft SQL database using an application developed by Pro Squared. Fixed RFID readers placed at various locations throughout law enforcement offices and courthouses would read each tag as it passes within range, creating a record of each item's last known location. In the evidence room, for example, each evidence desk would be fitted with a reader to record an item's location. Readers placed on exits from the evidence room would ensure that no unauthorized removal could take place by initiating a preselected security procedure (such as sounding an alarm or locking doors) should an attempt to remove evidence be made without first obtaining permission from the evidence room staff. The serial number of each tag would be linked to a database record for that item and could include all the relevant details regarding the item.
In addition to enabling police departments to track the location of evidence, the system would also track custody of each item so that as the item moves from the police department to district attorney's office to the court, a note can be made in the custody record of that item. The issuing of smart cards to police officers, administrative staff, clerical employees, court officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys and other individuals requiring access to the evidence room, the company says, would enable the readers to detect which individual was in possession of each item of evidence.

翻译：

摘要： 随着司法局对基于RFID的证物追踪系统的测试，Pro Squared说到2006年初将开发出该系统的巩固版本。2005年2月23日，印第安那州纵火调查人测试了基于RFID的系统。RFID启动者Pro Squared说，明年年初将为联邦，州及当地司法局开发一个基于RFID的证物追踪系统。据Pro Squared说，RFID同条码标签相比具有很多的优点，而许多警察局现在正使用条形码标签来追踪证物。


2005年2月23日，印第安那州纵火调查人测试了一基于RFID的系统。RFID启动者Pro Squared说，明年年初将为联邦，州，当地司法局开发一个基于RFID的证物追踪系统。据Pro Squared说，RFID同条码标签相比具有很多的优点，而许多警察局现在正使用条形码标签来追踪证物。

该RFID系统曾用于印第安那州飞行员，由长时间从事RFID系统的开发人员 Sysgen开发，他于2004年末将RFID事务出售给Pro Squared——一个IT项目管理公司The Project Group的休斯顿分部。在开发基于RFID的测试系统之前，印第安那州纵火调查人已经于2003年末使用条形码标签。

Feldman说，“条码容易因意外事故弄脏或毁损，读取率在80%左右”。 “RFID系统读取率能达到98%到99%之间”意味着98%到99%能成功的读取标签数据。印第安那周测试使用了1500个左右13.56MHz RFID被动标签，由德州仪器制造，许多大楼配置5个德州仪器读写器，在这些大楼上存储有印第安那州纵火调查材料。州纵火调查人员使用该系统来识别追踪从 纵火现场收集的证物。

据Pro Squared说，追踪证物——在犯罪现场，在犯罪调查和法庭陈述期间，在储藏库——对美国法律系统的运作具有至关重要的作用，然而有时候法律实施人员会有一些过失。例如，去年休斯顿警察局在局储物室内发现280例证物箱贴错标签。

Pro Squared目标是使休斯顿警察局成为其基于RFID证物追踪系统应用的第一个推动点。

示范系统将根据不同情形及不同特征的证物，混合配置由Alien Technology公司生产的915MHz超高频被RFID被动标签，及德州仪器生产的13.56MHz高频标签两种标签。使用该系统，法律实施人员能 够将RFID标签置于证物上，记录每一标签单元的重要细节。调查人员可以使用 PDAs及RFID读写器来收集犯罪现场的证据。

使用由Pro Squared开发的应用系统，一旦证物贴上标签，证物明细连同附在证物上的RFID标签的唯一序列号一起记录到一个微软SQL数据库中。遍布在法律实施 事务所及法院各种地方固定的RFID读写器会读取每一个在一定范围内通过的标签，生成每一个证物最新到过的场所记录。

除了在警察局追踪证物位置之外，系统也能追踪每一件物品的保管记录，使得证物从警察局移动到地方律师事务所到法庭时，此证物的保管记录中生成一条记 录。对警务人员，行政管理人员，文书雇员，法庭执行员，检举人，辨方律师及其他个别的证物室入口的需要发行职能卡，使得读写器能够探测到每一个证物项具体 到哪一个人曾经拥有过。