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Running head: UNDERSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE PARAMETERS 1

UNDERSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE PARAMETERS 5

Understanding Investigative Parameters

Juwane Brown

CCJS 321

05/19/2020

Understanding Investigative Parameters

Question 1: Forensic readiness

Forensic readiness refers to an organization's ability to maximize its ability to make use of digital evidence while keeping the investigation costs at a minimum. A plan for forensic readiness has several benefits. These include; providing a sense of information security to the customers by showing compliance with the set regulations, due diligence, and good corporate governance (Alenezi et al., 2017). It also improves the confidence of investors and stakeholders that the company will not be faced with data breaches because the threats to the security of data in the company are taken seriously. The requirements for establishing forensic readiness include identifying the evidence type and potential sources of evidence, which helps in streamlining the process of planning the evidence to help the investigators in capturing the forensic artifacts that are short-lived like computer RAMs. Another requirement is establishing the ability to gather and secure evidence in a forensic way. Forensic investigations need to get done in an approved and organized manner, which entails collecting evidence without corrupting it.

Question 2: Gathering digital evidence

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals against searches that meet certain criteria like being unreasonable, as well as seizures in their property (Clements, 2019). However, it also provides an exception in instances where there is probable cause. In this case, therefore, the statements that were made by Mr. Belcamp in his exit speech implied that he had the intention to do something against the organization, amounting to probable cause. Therefore, searching for any digital evidence from Mr. Belcamp's locker is justified as it is necessary to ensure that the employee does not act upon his threats to the company, as implied in his statements. A warrant of search is not necessary as a reasonable cause has been established. However, the company needs to first confirm if there are any special laws regarding the search, especially because Mr. Belcamp was no longer their employee.

Question 3: obtaining evidence

Security cannot be allowed to search Mr. Belcamp's suitcase and retrieve any evidence. The Fourth Amendment protects him because of several reasons. The company had already fired him, and as such, he is a private citizen whose rights get protected against violation (Clements, 2019). Obtaining any evidence from him without a warrant, in this case, would be a violation of his rights. The security personnel will be required by the constitution to treat him like they would treat any other visitor to the company.

Question 4: Employee handbook

An employee handbook provides details of the policies, values, and expectations for the employee. Also, it protects the employer if any legal nature issues arise in the course of the employment relationship (Guerin & DelPo, 2017). An employee must sign the receipt to show that he agrees with the provisions in the handbook. However, they cannot be forced by the employer to sign it though the move could amount to termination of the employment agreement. The fact that Mr. Belcamp did not sign the receipt page but remained employed matters because it shows that the employer was okay with his failure to sign it meaning that, he was also okay with his failure to agree with the provisions of the handbook. This, therefore, exempts Mr. Belcamp from the provision that anything that gets brought into the company by the employees is subject to search—as such, searching his locker will be a violation of his rights.

Question 5: Search parameters and seizure

Involving the police at this point will amount to further complications to the investigation and processes of search because a reasonable cause has already established that the search can be done (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2016). When the police get involved, it becomes a legal process, and on their part, they will need to obtain a warrant for search in order to conduct the search on Mr. Belcamp's locker. Involving the police would also mean that the organization will have to hand over control of the investigation process to law enforcement. This means that the company loses investigatory jurisdiction and loses its evidence gathering ability. The warrant will mean a fresh investigation gets commenced, which could amount to the loss of critical evidence.

Question 6: documenting the Chain of custody

Chain of custody is a term that gets used to describe the process of collecting, retaining, and verifying logs regarding who was holding a particular piece of evidence and the stage at which the individual was holding it. The Chain of custody plays a critical role in establishing the validity of evidence (Badiye et al., 2019). The Chain of custody must be documented as the attorney for the defense could use the lack of documentation to argue that the evidence may have been corrupted as there is no information as to how it was held.

References

Alenezi, A., Zulkipli, N. H. N., Atlam, H. F., Walters, R. J., & Wills, G. B. (2017, April). The Impact of Cloud Forensic Readiness on Security. In CLOSER (pp. 511-517).

Badiye, A., Kapoor, N., & Menezes, R. G. (2019). Chain of Custody (Chain of Evidence). In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.

Cavico, F. J., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2016). The Intentional Tort of Invasion of Privacy in the Private Employment Sector: Legal Analysis and Recommendations for Managers. International Journal of Business and Law Research, 4(3), 37.

Clements, J. (2019). Privacy in the 21st Century: DNA and the Fourth Amendment.

Guerin, L., & DelPo, A. (2017). Create your own employee handbook: A legal & practical guide for employers. Nolo.