Staffordshire Police

Paper correspondence:

• keep envelopes as well as the contents
• handle the item as little as possible and hold using bare hands by the corners or edges where possible
• do not mark, staple, pin or fold the document
• Place paper items into another larger envelope or paper (not plastic) bag and do not write on the outer envelope
• if the item is wet and the source of dampness is suspected to be from a biological material, such as blood, urine or semen, do not touch it
• if the item is wet and not contaminated by biological material, try to separate the items without causing damage to them and lay them out on kitchen paper to air dry naturally. Do not use hairdryers or place items into an airing cupboard or warm room. Once dry, place the items into a paper bag or envelope.

Damp or wet items (other than paper):

• do not touch biological material of any kind as it may be hazardous
• place items dampened by rain or other non-biological moisture into a polythene (freezer) bag, seal and immediately put in the freezer. If no freezer is available, try to separate the items without causing damage and lay them out on kitchen paper to air dry naturally. Do not use hair dryers or place into an airing cupboard or warm room.

Hypodermic needles/syringes or other sharps:

• do not try to remove needles from syringes
• place items into a strong cardboard box or plastic container (eg, a sandwich box)
• seal to avoid any injury.

Any foodstuffs:

• place foodstuffs into a plastic container (eg, sandwich box) and freeze
• telephones or pagers:
• do not tamper with, or dispose of, the mobile phone, pager or SIM card
• log details of any text messages or the content of any calls, including the caller's number and the time they were received. On receipt of further calls to a fixed line telephone or answering machine, you should dial 1471 and write down in the log the caller'`s number, and any other details including the time of the call

Other means of electronic communication:

• make a true copy of any stored data
• if material has to be downloaded onto storage media (eg, CD, floppy disk or flash card), use new blank storage media and break out the record/erase tab to prevent accidental erasure
• clearly label each item with the date and time.