5 Ways to Save Time in Your Investigations

5 Ways to Save Time in Your Investigations

Managing digital evidence is no small task. From mitigating the risk of tampering to tracking down digital evidence on the right flash drive, inefficient evidence management can significantly delay investigations.

This doesn’t just concern digital evidence, however. The traditional process of gathering evidence can also be a gruelling task. This can include manually writing transcriptions, language translation delays, slow evidence collection and authenticity concerns.

In this article we will take a look at two solutions and how they can reduce investigative time, ensure evidential integrity and lead to faster case resolutions and reduction in costs.

1. Automatic Transcription – No More Manual Note-Taking

It’s a laborious process manually transcribing interviews, statements and evidential documentation. By automating this process, you can save time and divert resources to where it’s truly needed most. MeaConnexus and MeaFuse provide automatic transcription of any audio or video that is stored on the applications, removing the need for investigators to manually type out conversations.

The automatic transcriptions are time-coded and (in MeaConnexus) include the names of the participants. By having an automatically generated digital transcript, you can easily find keywords or phrases, making the analysis and review process much easier.

2. Real-Time Translation – Breaking Language Barriers Instantly

In a recent article we highlighted the differences between real-time translation (RTT) and human interpreters in investigations. While there are instances when a human interpreter is required to translate interviews and statements, for the vast majority of interviews RTT is a powerful and cost-effective alternative. Human interpreters are limited by their availability and need to be scheduled for interviews, whereas RTT is available 24/7.

MeaConnexus provides RTT during remote interviews, allowing multilingual calls to take place (up to 5 languages simultaneously). Instead of relying on one or many interpreters, your voice is translated into text for other participants, reducing scheduling issues and investigation time. This is ideal for cross-border investigations spanning countries or continents and insurance claim interviews involving international clients.

The quality of translated conversations can vary significantly between RTT and interpreters. The flow of the interview is constantly interrupted to allow the interpreter to translate, but in the case of RTT, participants can read the translated conversation in their own language. Whilst the accuracy of RTT is yet to be 100%, for the majority of interview scenarios, it is a cost-effective and scalable alternative to interpreters.

3. Rapid Evidence Capture and Upload – No More Delays

Waiting for files to be manually uploaded, transferred and shared is a common problem when using traditional evidence collection procedures. As well as this, manually digitising and scanning evidence can also prolong the review and analysis of evidence, leading to delays in investigations.

MeaFuse enables immediate capture and upload of digital evidence using a smartphone, from any location ensuring  crucial information reaches your team sooner, leading to faster case resolutions.

4. Evidential Validation – Ensuring Accuracy

One of the biggest risks to digital evidence is mishandling or tampering, which can compromise its integrity. That’s why verifying authenticity, tracing its provenance, and ensuring its integrity are essential.

Unlike other interview platforms or evidence management systems, MeaConnexus and MeaFuse have integrated evidential validation to ensure that what you are seeing or hearing is the original that was captured, stored or recorded. This is made possible by encrypting files with Blockchain technology and advanced cryptography. This reduces the need for manual verification, carried out internally or by a third-party, and instead provides admissibility in investigations and cases.

5. Remote Interviewing – Speed and Convenience Anywhere

In-person interviews, though sometimes necessary, can be inefficient compared to remote interviewing.

However, by utilising MeaConnexus, you can enable secure, remote video interviews, eliminating travel time and costs. By allowing interviewers to host interviews at any time, this reduces scheduling conflicts for both parties, and means that the interview can be scheduled quicker. This is ideal, especially if a statement is needed and requires the interviewee to recall the event or incident. Known as the ‘forgetting curve’, the ability for humans to recall events reduces the longer that times passes. Therefore by scheduling the remote interview soon after, you can capture a confident account of events.

Whether on desktop, tablet or mobile, MeaConnexus can be used when and wherever needed, accessible through popular browsers, and doesn’t require signing up for the interviewees.

A Smarter Way to Manage Digital Evidence

Ensuring effective and rapid collection of digital evidence will lead to faster resolutions and greater public and client confidence. By automating transcription, utilising real-time translation, and instantaneous validation and capture you can significantly reduce investigation time.

How much time are you spending on the processes mentioned in this article? Are there areas that you think MeaConnexus or MeaFuse could help streamline your workflow?