Is There an RFID Solution Specifically Designed to Track Evidence?

Where might I find such a system? This would be for a law-enforcement agency.

—Name withheld

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A company called Intelligentz offered such a solution, but I believe that firm is no longer in business. We published a story about the Travis County Fire Marshall, in Austin, Texas, using that system to RFID-tag 2,500 pieces of evidence. The office is utilizing Intelligentz's Clues system to monitor the location of every piece of evidence for active cases, as well as those for archived cases up to 10 years old (see Travis County Fire Marshall Uses RFID to Manage Evidence).

Another company, known as Pro Squared, offered a solution, but I believe that firm went out of business as well. Pro Squared had provided a solution that was tested by Indiana's state arson investigators (see RFID System Keeps Track of Evidence).

It is possible to create a system using passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tags and readers and generic asset-tracking software. The Santa Clara County government is utilizing RFID to track and manage approximately 35,000 to 40,000 pieces of evidence annually (see Santa Clara Crime Lab Turns to RFID).

The Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), a government agency that collects and evaluates crime-scene evidence from around the Netherlands, has implemented an RFID track-and-trace system for the 100,000 pieces of evidence it collects every year. Guns, knives, cigarette butts, hair samples and other items are placed in plastic bags at crime scenes, and are labeled with EPC Gen 2 RFID tags (see Dutch Forensic Institute Uses RFID to Control Crime Evidence).

Bode Technology, one of the world's largest DNA analysis firms, created an RFID system to manage DNA evidence as it passes through a supply chain, including storage and analysis within a laboratory. I am unsure if the firm deployed the system or is simply marketing it (see Bode Technology Launches RFID System to Track DNA Evidence).

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal