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| | Chain of custody -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09) |
 | | In practice, this means that a (The force of policemen and officers) police officer or detective will take charge of a piece of evidence, document its collection, and hand it over to an evidence clerk for storage in a secure place. |
 | | These transactions, and every succeeding transaction between the collection of the evidence and its appearance in court, should be completely documented chronologically in order to withstand legal challenges to the authenticity of the evidence. |
 | | Documentation should include the conditions under which the evidence is gathered, the identity of all evidence handlers, duration of evidence custody, security conditions while handling or storing the evidence, and the manner in which evidence is transferred to subsequent custodians each time such a transfer occurs. |
| www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/c/ch/chain_of_custody.htm (192 words) |
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