Lakewood Police Department Policy and Procedure Photography and Imaging Formats		Effective Date: 12/14/2021
	Policy Number: PP-8322 Photography and Imaging Formats

1. Digital photography (images) will be uploaded to Evidence.com. 

2. Photography not connected to a criminal investigation or case number may be utilized for administrative purposes. (Such as public relations photographs, mug photographs and employee identification photographs).

3. Photography obtained in an investigation will be handled as evidence, whether or not it is intended for court presentation.

4. All technology, equipment and software utilized for investigative image acquisition, analysis and processing shall be approved by the Criminalistics Section for standardization and system compatibility. 

5. In order to preserve and maintain original image integrity and chain of custody, the files will be uploaded to Evidence.com as soon as possible and prior to any other application of image handling, enhancement, processing, analysis, of reproduction.  Processing techniques will not be conducted on the archived data file. 

6.  “Working copies” of archived data may be obtained following archival procedures.  All “working copies” will be so labeled. 

7. All techniques applied in image processing and analysis will be conducted on “working copies” by designated personnel.  A complete history of applied techniques will be documented by the technician for later duplication of results during court presentations and will be documented in supplemental reports. 

8. Techniques common to traditional darkrooms and digital imaging stations, such as cropping, dodging, burning, color balancing, and contrast adjustment that are used to achieve an accurate recording of an event or object, are standard processing steps. When the results of the steps can be observed and are visually verifiable, documentation of such steps is not considered mandatory except when the image is subjected to image analysis. 

9. Techniques such as unsharp masking, multi-image averaging or integration, and Fourier analysis that are used to increase the visibility of specific details in an image at the expense of other image details are standard processing steps. However, the use of such steps should be recorded in such a way as to allow comparably trained personnel can repeat the steps and produce the same output when the image is subjected to image analysis.

1. Original image files shall not be altered. 

2. All image files shall be protected by archiving prior to any other application of image handling, processing, analysis and/or reproduction techniques. 

a. Analysis 

The extraction of information from an image beyond that which is readily apparent through visual examination. 

 b. Archive 

To record in an unalterable format.  

The original image should be stored and maintained in an unaltered state. This includes maintaining original digital images in their native file formats. The following media are recommended for the preservation of original images because of their quality, durability, permanence, and reliability: Silver-based film with the exception of instant film, write-once compact disk recordable (CDR) digital versatile disk recordable (DVD-R) The following are not considered to be acceptable for the preservation of original images: Re-writable storage media, instant film, inkjet prints, solid ink prints, thermal wax paper prints, dye-sublimation prints, dry-silver prints, laser prints, or electro-static prints.  

c. Enhancement  

Any processing intended to improve or clarify the visual appearance of an image. 

d. Photography 

The term “photography” used through this manual includes both film based and electronic imaging technologies. 

e. Processing 

Any activity, which transforms an input image into an output image.

f. Verification 

A process by which personnel identify an image as being an accurate representation of the scene or item.

g. Working Copy 

A copy of an original archived image file, videotape, etc. which is to be used in image processing and reproduction. Duplicates or copies should be used for working images when applicable.