Electronic Imaging: Avoiding a Paper Avalanche when Managing Complex Cases

Electronic imaging technology provides organizations with the tools required to quickly categorize, filter, customize, analyze, store, and retrieve enormous amounts of information residing on multiple media. Imaging has become part of the senior management agenda to increase productivity while controlling the high cost of information management. Likewise, in the investigative arena, the future of managing complex fraud cases lies increasingly in the effective use of electronic imaging.

Electronic imaging, as it relates to fraud examinations, is the process of scanning evidential or case-related documents into a magnetic medium, such as a computer’s hard drive, or an optical disk, such as a CD-ROM. Fraud examiners then can retrieve, sort, and analyze their documents without the hassle of manually sifting through massive amounts of paper files.

Fraud examiners and prosecutors may have legal obligations to complete cases in a reasonable time and make full disclosure of all materials collected. Cases have been rejected because of the length of time taken to bring them to prosecution.

Complying with these requirements manually can involve extensive photocopying costs and the resulting limitations may adversely impact some aspects of case management, such as limiting the scope of the investigation.

An imaging system’s ability to search and quickly find documents in preparation for interviewing witnesses, going to trial – and even while in court – continually proves to be indispensable. The manual system of locating documents is time-consuming – haphazard at best – and does not provide the high degree of confidence that the imaging system provides. This enhanced research capability enables earlier decisions to be made regarding collateral requests, witnesses to interview, location of further materials to be collected, or whether to continue or conclude the case.

This article is based on my evaluation of the SUPERText imaging system used by Revenue Canada to investigate a large, complex tax fraud. Imaging greatly enhanced the investigation, management, and litigation support activities of the case. As anticipated, it yielded a significant savings in photocopying costs, while concurrently exceeding expectations for the investigation team’s electronic research and analysis. It also positively affected the human resources needed to investigate the case.

Profile of a LAN (Local Area Network)/Workgroup Imaging Center Operation 

There are many possible configurations for organizing an imaging center. The imaging center Revenue Canada used to manage the complex tax fraud case had a Novell 3.12 fileserver – a high-speed computer that acts as a remote disk drive – with two 9-GIG duplexed hard drives. (Memory capacities have since increased significantly.) Duplexed hard drives are functionally identical so one drive can take over if the other drive should fail. In this particular case, the back-up hard drive saved lost work more than a few times with no loss in production over a two-year period! Two scanning workstation computers also are attached. A high-speed workstation has the ability to scan 55 single-sided pages per minute or 100 double-sided pages per minute from a 500-page sheet feeder. The utility scanning workstation has a flatbed scanner and a sheet feeder.

Two additional computer workstations then are attached for performing optical character recognition (OCR), which allows the computer to “read” text within a document; implementing key fields – or identifiers, such as account numbers, product codes, etc. – for each document that is scanned; and creating the CD-ROMs for the defense, state, and investigative teams.

To begin the scanning process, staples are removed from the documents, and a banner sheet – or cover sheet – is placed in front of each individual record. The banner sheet has a bar code on it so the computer will know where each new document begins during the scanning process. Comments can be written on the banner sheet, such as where the document was seized, which later can be entered during the key-fielding process.

As the documents are scanned, an endorser unit – a printer attached to the scanner – automatically imprints a serial number on the back of each page.

Documents are scanned in batches up to 500 pages for the high-end scanner. The batch number, date, serial number, and number of pages scanned are entered in a log book, creating a trail so the scanning clerk can, if required, testify when a specific document was scanned. The imaged documents then are saved as images, or .TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files, on the fileserver. Depending on the type of documents, up to 5,000 pages can be scanned per day.

The next step in the process involves OCR. When a document is scanned, the text is stored as a picture or image; therefore, the image needs to be converted back into text, so the document can be analyzed word for word. The various batches are “OCR’d” overnight. OCR systems usually can recognize both typewriter and computer-printed characters. Some advanced OCR systems can recognize hand printing. Each of the input stations has the capability of processing about 7,500 pages each night.

Next the examiner must create key fields for the information in each document. Field names can include type of document, date of the document, seizure location, comments, serial number, key document, relevant document, forensic document, forgery document, document who to, or document author. The key fields are inserted into the database. When 550 MEG of images has been completed, a CD-ROM is made containing about 10,000 to 12,000 pages of picture files. The text, including key fields from each document, is indexed in a database on a hard drive.

Handling a suspect’s seized hard drive does not change when using electronic imaging. The original hard drive is handled only once after seizure when an image copy is made. The image file is restored to a different computer than the suspect’s and the analysis is performed on the copy. With this system the electronic files are copied to the CD-ROMs, then the search and retrieval system finds and displays the electronic files just as paper documents.
Reports can include any combination of fields from the database and can be based on the results of one or more searches. These reports can be imported into programs such as Microsoft Excel.

Positive Effects of Electronic Imaging 

In addition to more efficient case management, there are many other benefits of electronic imaging.

• An organization is better able to fulfill legal requirements for custody and control over the evidence (e.g. Imaging provides a more efficient method of handling evidence to satisfy court requirements for disclosure to the defense team).
• Evidential matter can be better preserved (e.g., documents are not lost or prone to deterioration, which can happen with frequent manual use of paper documents).
• The system enables more exploration of lower priority areas of investigation, increasing the probability of identifying civil and criminal wrongdoing. Consequently, the investigation of one case is more likely to result in additional prosecutions. In the tax fraud case, the system enabled the investigative team to pursue two additional prosecutions.
• With the use of fuzzy searching and high-powered research capabilities, searches can successfully capture or “pull up” partial or “like” spellings even if there are uncertainties about the original material, the spelling of a word, or in the accuracy of the OCR.
• Photocopying costs are reduced greatly. In the past, during the investigative stage, documents were copied as they appeared to be important. Copies were kept close at hand to refresh the memory and to support an avenue of investigation. Copies of records had to be stored and organized for easy retrieval. With electronic images of documents, photocopies are seldom required until the final stage of a line of inquiry.
• Human resources previously used for extensive photocopying may now be re-allocated for better utilization. In the tax fraud case, the investigators spent most of their time on value-added analyses, rather than document searching and copying.
• The quality of the images in some cases is better than the original paper document.
• Investigators with knowledge of the case are not needed for key-fielding. Temporary clerical staff could accomplish this task most satisfactorily.
• Enhanced OCR technology has made it less necessary to create all relevant key fields before searching records. Fields like exhibit numbers or key cross-references now can be easily added when and if it’s necessary.
• The imaging system can prepare, store, and transmit detailed inventories and briefs quickly and accurately.
• A line of inquiry can be initiated and – using multiple windows – can be easily followed up, while the documents are still on screen. As documents are identified they can be marked for later retrieval in image form or original. Lines of inquiry can be proved fruitful or unsuccessful in a minimum of time.
• Multiple investigators simultaneously can access and work in a shared document image collection, unlike uncopied paper documents. Furthermore, fraud examiners and lawyers – whether at the office or on the road – have all of the information readily available to them for their review.
• Two versions of the imaged documents can be prepared. The copy given for disclosure would not contain the working notes and analyses embedded in the copies kept by the investigation and prosecution teams.
• The image files can be taken into the field when interviewing primary witnesses. This is important as the entire case can be taken to the interview site. The imaging system has been used to keep the witnesses focused by refreshing their memories through presenting images of records on screen.
• The court system increasingly is accepting the disclosure of evidence in electronic form. “Electronic trials” are taking place today in more court rooms throughout Canada and the United States. It will soon become commonplace for witnesses and jurors to focus on monitors, rather than flip charts, while an attorney guides them through a visual display of evidential and case-related images and documents. Judges also are using the imaged documents as a tool for their own analyses, which increases the level of independent judicial research during court cases.
• In cases in which the defendant is uncertain of computer technology or simply wishes to work with paper documents, case managers can authorize the use of the “printed” version of the electronic files. This is still a cost-effective approach, because printing is more efficient than photocopying, and original documents can be misfiled or damaged when photocopying.

Imaging Applications 

Electronic imaging is done with specialized software packages. Imaging software provides the case manager, investigators, and their associates with a research, management, and presentation system for paper documents, electronic documents, and additional information on one or more cases. By providing analytical tools and capabilities, the software goes well beyond many document management systems that can only store documents.

There are packages, such as the one used by Revenue Canada, that are turn-key, integrated, full-text imaging systems designed specifically for the needs of organizations involved in civil litigation, criminal investigation and litigation, and general corporate research and library projects. One or more databases can be created for a given case or file, and the system can be used on an unlimited number of cases or files. Each database can contain a wide range of litigation, research, and investigation material, including:

• unlimited number of paper documents in popular PC formats up to ledger size (11 x 17 inches);
• court transcripts, wire-tap transcripts, and inquest transcripts; and
• PC word-processing, database, or spreadsheet formats.

Of the numerous computerized research functions for investigation, case management, and litigation support, Revenue Canada’s investigation team mentioned these as being most important:

• supports paper documents and electronic documents;
• searches paper documents, electronic documents, and document classes defined by the user (i.e., fraud examiner, lawyer, etc.) simultaneously;
• searches content, fields, or both with same search query;
• simultaneously views text, document images, and document fields in three synchronous windows;
• performs word or phrase searches, and is case insensitive;
• intelligently searches numerical values (for example, a search for 520 might yield $520 and $63,520);
• incorporates fuzzy-search technology with user-defined degrees of freedom. For example, it enables the fraud examiner to expand his search “hit list” by matching words that look like or are close to the actual search word in the query;
• is flexible in presentation options by allowing customizable result layouts and sorting;
• has a dazzling search speed;
• contains full Boolean, proximity, range, numeric, wild card, and dozens of other search operations;
• searches all popular PC-file formats;
• exports tables to Excel, Lotus, and other formats;
• creates “neutral” versions of a database for disclosure and discovery purposes;
• has a CD View Viewer, an embedded viewing program to read the images copied on the CDs (In the tax fraud case, CDs containing images of more than 200 bankers boxes were taken overseas where they enabled a witness to confirm key fraudulent transactions.);
• automatically numbers documents for document lists;
• integrates documents and data to enable preparation of witness books, chronologies, and other sorted document collections;
• allows for automatic indexing and has capabilities for image viewing, image manipulation, document archiving, and reprinting; and
• has flexible report-writing technology.

The Future of Electronic Imaging 

There is still a preference for the use of a paper-based approach by many investigators, due to a fear or lack of understanding of technology. As business operations become more global and electronically networked, we can expect an increase in the complexities of fraud cases – and this is where imaging can make the difference. Accordingly, we should expect that the use of electronic imaging will dramatically change the ways investigations are undertaken and managed. We can expect:

• more computer-based training among fraud examiners, investigators, and case managers;
• fraud examiners increasingly being able to explore lower probability outcomes with the cost-efficient information research capabilities;
• the research, analytical, and imaging capabilities of software to continue to improve (DVD – digital video disks – and other technical developments will increase the capabilities of personal computers and scanners for more portable uses);
• programmers to increase the linkages of audio and video evidence to textual information bases; and
• the courts increasingly to find electronic means of investigation and prosecution as a cost-effective way to improve legal proceedings.

Courts, lawyers, and fraud examiners are swamped by documents – both electronic and paper – and, inevitably, all will welcome a cost-effective tool that makes information readily accessible. Energy, which should go into the examination process, is too often diverted to the administrative and mundane tasks associated with manually sifting through paper and electronic files. The result is delays, mounting frustration, and the inefficient use of talented resources. We can expect to see increasing use of electronic imaging in future investigations and legal proceedings. How will imaging impact your future fraud examinations?

Basil Orsini, CFE, CIA, has 16 years of experience in the internal auditing field and is an internal audit director at Human Resources Development Canada in Hull, Quebec. He is a director on the CFE Board in Ottawa, and also on the Association of Professional Executives in the Canadian Government