When an affected area has been identified

Preserve its condition. In the mattress-label inquiry, moving bedding to examine it may also move the evidence the department needs to examine.

When records concern more than one event

Keep the records separate. A receipt from the church’s later giving event is not necessarily evidence about the original reported shortage.

When an identification is uncertain

Record what was observed. Movement, appearance and location can be described without deciding what the subject must have been.