For years, Bryan Gibson toed the line between his two passions of law enforcement and IT. Now, he uses those skills interchangeably on a regular basis for the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department.
Gibson recently transferred from the county’s IT department to the sheriff’s department to serve as the new evidence specialist. He replaces Ann Holcomb, who retired.
“My family was always involved in, if not directly employed as, IT professionals and so naturally that was how I started out, but I quickly realized I had a desire to serve my community, and felt law enforcement was more my calling because I got to help people in a real way,” said Gibson, who grew up in Cloquet, Minnesota, about 30 miles from Superior.
“As my career progressed, I toed a line between law enforcement and IT — working as a security guard at a local hospital, where I regularly interacted with law enforcement officers and stoked that fire. Locally, that role was a stepping stone to becoming a law enforcement officer. Many of my colleagues there went on to do just that. I went on to do IT work for that hospital, but something always felt like it was missing.”
During that time, he gained another degree, cyber leadership and intelligence, with a specialization in digital forensics, which is where he found the most enjoyment out of anything he studied.
“I decided upon graduation that I would work toward a position in law enforcement that would allow me to use both my technological and forensics skills to continue to help people, and this role is, in my opinion, the perfect mixture,” Gibson said.
The duties of this role involve the taking in, management, secure storage and maintained availability of any item that can be defined as evidence, as well as providing information and services to the public such as weapons destruction.
Physical evidence is defined by the sheriff’s department as “any item, substance or material found or recovered in connection with an investigation.” That means any item that speaks to the facts of a case, from the tiniest hair to an SUV.
“These are all possible items of evidence that when pieced together, tell a story of what happened at a particular place, at a specific time,” Gibson said.
He said each piece of evidence is handled based on what it can provide to an investigation, as well as the discretion of the deputy or detective working the case. All evidence is securely stored and kept separate from other evidence.
Gibson said he could go on for hours regarding the evidence chain, who collects the evidence and how they determine what to collect.
“But the key takeaway is that it all depends on the case,” he said. “Typically the deputy or detective on scene will collect the evidence and bring it back to the evidence building where I would take possession. This would be for things like traffic stops. But on occasion, I can also be requested to assist right then and there. Those would be for things like search warrants. The size or severity of the case is not the determining factor, but rather how much evidence is present, whether it follows the typical chain of custody flow or could be called ‘special.’”
Once collected, all evidence is cataloged, both on chain of custody forms as well as in department computers. From there, it is brought to its designated location based on what it is, if it needs temperature control, etc.
“It is held until it is needed for court proceedings, processing at the crime lab and eventually its destruction,” Gibson said.
He believes every case deserves the same level of reverence for its evidence.
“The court of law should be fair, and the part that I play is to make sure there is no question at the time of the proceedings that evidence is and has been handled correctly and securely,” he said. “We have different secure storage areas based on the type of evidence, but the entire evidence building is built on the idea of least privilege – only those with specific need to access certain areas can do so, and those who request access need to be escorted if they are not normally working in those areas.”
Everyone, including the defense attorneys and the prosecutors, have to put in written requests when it comes to reviewing evidence.
“Once an item is logged as evidence, regardless of who it is or what part they play, I am also present to supervise their examination of the evidence as a witness as well,” Gibson said.
How long evidence is kept depends on the case and the type of evidence. Also, most cases can be appealed, which means that evidence can be stored longer depending on the status of the case.
“Part of my duties is to consistently be monitoring cases to keep accurate tabs on where the case is in the process of being worked through, and then purging it as required,” Gibson said. “The purging process again is dependent on the item, but most of the time, it is either sent off or hand-delivered to a location that specializes in the destruction of that item.”
In some cases, evidence is returned to the owner, while other items are recycled.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
