GEMS General Evidence Management System
Beacon Intelligence Systems is proud to recommend Eden Technology, Australian developer of the most innovative investigation/legal software application ever to hit the international market.
GEMS, now in Version 3, is an integrated knowledge management system designed to enhance the investigator's or lawyer's use of information technology in dealing with complex investigations or litigation. GEMS is the only computer-based evidence management system currently available anywhere and is used by agencies such as:
- Australian Federal Police
- Insolvency Trustree Service of Australia
- Environment Australia
- Western Australia Police Service - Major Fraud Investigation Branch
GEMS was developed in conjunction with Australian law enforcement experts as a computerised management system for criminal evidence, especially in complex fraud investigations. But GEMS is not limited to fraud investigations. GEMS is equally at home in narcotics investigations, serial crime investigation (such as murder, arson and sexual assault), money laundering cases, organised crime cases and RICO-type investigations. Its versatility allows it to be used in any complex investigation where large amounts of accountable information must be managed and analysed in an efficient manner.
GEMS is not limited to criminal investigations but also has direct application in complex civil litigation. GEMS can be used in any complex corporate case, ranging from insider-trading through due diligence to insolvency. It is equally at home in contract suits, or negligence actions. Indeed, GEMS has direct application in any legal case - criminal or civil - involving multiple defendants, large numbers of witnesses, significant quantities of exhibits or complex paper trails. GEMS can do all of this because it can be customised to suit the needs of your work practices, your evidence and your particular field of forensic interest.
GEMS assists an investigation or legal team to collect, record, track, manage and analyse virtually any type of evidence or exhibit. It uses scanning and electronic storage, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), free-text searching and visual representation of large quantities of evidentiary documents. GEMS allows similar recording and storage of image, video, and audio evidence.
Once the evidence is collected and converted for storage within GEMS, the system then allows the identification of offences or causes-of-action and the linking of various items of evidence and the entities involved directly to those offences or causes-of-action. Last of all, it allows the totality of the case to be structured into a 'brief of evidence' for storage and distribution by CD-ROM or similar removable media.
Once the GEMS brief has been 'burned' onto CD-ROM, it can easily be distributed as to the litigation team for evaluation, analysis, development and presentation of the court case. Because the lawyers are dealing with electronic representations of the real evidence, issues like continuity and security become much easier to manage. Statements cannot be lost and exhibits cannot be misplaced, as originals are safely secured for later production on court. The legal team deals with a 'virtual case' until it is time to go to court.
GEMS was developed by investigators for investigators - but it would be a mistake to think of the system as being of use only in investigations. GEMS is a truly revolutionary tool in the management of complex evidence sets. It should therefore be of equal interest to lawyers, forensic accountants, insolvency practitioners and government inquiries. We predict that GEMS will eventually become the benchmark against which all future developments in the field are judged.
Complex investigations can take years to complete with evidence amounting to tens and possibly even hundreds of volumes - but it all comes to nothing, however, if the evidence doesn't reach the court. GEMS helps you collect, manage and place all the important evidence before the court.
To learn more about GEMS, please e-mail us.