Mobile device for tracking evidence

An improved handheld mobile communication device having a computer processor and memory in communication with a central computer system, the handheld mobile communication device comprises a code scanner to read machine readable indicia on evidence tags that are attached to evidentiary materials and further comprises a camera module to take a set of physical evidence pictures and a set of suspect pictures, wherein the central computer system maintains a master record of evidence entries, wherein the handheld mobile communication device communicates through a communications module over a networked communication with the central computer system while collecting and managing the evidence entries for evidentiary materials proximate to a crime scene that is remote from the central computer system, wherein the mobile communication device stores the evidence entries in the memory and uploads the evidence entries to the master record stored in the central computer system, the improvement comprising:

• a display within the handheld mobile communication device operatively communicating with the computer processor to produce a suspects screen comprising a suspect picture field for displaying at least one of the suspect pictures and a plurality of suspect fields for displaying names, vital statistics and addresses from the evidence entries, wherein said display and the computer processor produce a physical evidence screen comprising a first picture field for displaying at least one of the physical evidence pictures and a plurality of physical evidence fields for displaying alphanumeric codes, locations, and descriptions from said evidence entries;
• and
• an alphanumeric entry for a search term in at least one of a suspect name, suspect vital statistics, and a physical evidence description, said search term entered into a corresponding one of said suspect fields and said physical evidence fields, wherein the computer processor performs an internal search of the memory for said search term and obtains an internal such result, wherein the computer processor produces an external search request for said search term, wherein the communications module communicates said external search request to the central computer system and receives an external search result from the central computer system, and wherein said internal search result and said external search result for a plurality of potential matches are displayed on at least one of said suspect screen and said physical information screen.

A mobile communication device for collecting photographic information from locations that are remote from a central computer system, comprising:

• a camera module, said camera module taking a set of photographs;
• an input device comprising at least one of a remote control module and an alphanumeric entry, said remote control module receiving command instructions and said alphanumeric entry receiving a set of locations corresponding with said set of photographs;
• a computer processor operatively communicating with said camera module and said input devices, wherein a plurality of evidence entries are entered into said computer processor, said evidence entries comprising said set of photographs received from said camera module and said set of locations received from said input device;
• a memory in operative communication with said computer processor, wherein said evidence entries are stored in said memory with a set of correlations between said set of photographs and said set of locations;
• a communications module in networked communication with the central computer system and in local communication with said computer processor, said communications module uploading said evidence entries and said set of correlations from said memory to the central computer system;
• and
• a display screen comprising a first picture field for displaying at least one of said photographs and a location field for displaying at least one of said locations, wherein said display screen further comprises a selection option for an establishing shot picture from said set of photographs, and wherein said computer processor uses a reference position corresponding with said establishing shot relative to other locations in said set of locations and determines a plurality of location references between said establishing shot picture and said other photographs in said set of photographs.

A mobile communication device for collecting and searching evidentiary materials from a crime scene during an investigation and managed by a central computer system, the evidentiary materials including physical evidence, photographic evidence, suspect evidence and interpretive evidence, comprising:

• a camera module, said camera module taking a set of physical evidence pictures and a set of suspect pictures;
• a plurality of input devices comprising a code scanner and an alphanumeric entry, said code scanner reading a plurality of machine readable media corresponding with the physical evidence and said alphanumeric entry receiving at least one of locations and descriptions of the physical evidence and at least one of names, addresses and vital statistics information for the suspect evidence;
• a computer processor operatively communicating with said camera module and said input devices, wherein a plurality of evidence entries are entered into said computer processor, said evidence entries comprising said set of physical evidence pictures received from said camera module, said set of suspect pictures received from said camera module, a plurality of physical evidence codes received from at least one of said camera module and said input device, and said locations, descriptions, names and said vital statistics information received from said input device;
• a memory in operative communication with said computer processor, wherein said evidence entries are stored in said memory with a first set of correlations between said physical evidence pictures, said descriptions and said physical evidence codes, a second set of correlations between said suspect pictures and said vital statistics information, a third set of correlations between said machine readable media and the physical evidence;
• a communications module in networked communication with the central computer system and in local communication with said computer processor, said communications module uploading said evidence entries and said sets of correlations from said memory to the central computer system;
• a display operatively communicating with said computer processor and producing a plurality of information screens, said information screens comprising a physical evidence screen and a suspects screen, wherein said physical evidence screen comprises a first picture field for displaying at least one of said physical evidence pictures and a plurality of physical evidence fields for displaying alphanumeric codes, locations, and descriptions from said evidence entries, wherein said suspects screen comprises a second picture field for displaying at least one of said suspect pictures and a plurality of suspect fields for displaying names, vital statistics and addresses from said evidence entries;
• a handheld device sized to be held in one hand, said handheld device containing said camera module, said input device, said computer processor, said memory, said communications module and said display;
• and
• an evidence container for holding the evidentiary materials with said machine readable media on a plurality of evidence tags, wherein said evidence tags are attached to the evidentiary materials, wherein said evidence container includes a container identification label comprising a listing of said machine readable media on said evidence tags in said evidence container and a case identifier, and wherein said memory comprises a container correlation and a case correlation for said evidence entries corresponding with the evidentiary materials in said evidence container.