How it works
Six transfers, one seal number
Every job is the same six hand-offs, and every hand-off produces a line in the record. The seal number applied in step 02 is the thread that runs through all of them: if it stops reconciling, that is an exception, and the exception is written into the record rather than out of it.
Chain of custody
From locked container to issued certificate
What happens at each transfer, and what evidence that transfer leaves behind.
- 01
Container placed and locked
A locked console or bin is sited at your facility. Only the container is at your address; the key is not.
Evidence
Container ID and placement location on the service agreement
- 02
Sealed before it moves
The container is closed and closed with a numbered tamper-evident seal in front of your staff member. That number is the thread through everything that follows.
Evidence
Seal number, technician ID, customer signature, timestamp
- 03
Transported locked
The vehicle is locked and tracked for the whole route. Nothing is opened, consolidated, or transferred between vehicles in transit.
Evidence
Route log with departure and arrival timestamps
- 04
Received and reconciled
Seals are checked against the manifest at the plant. A seal that does not match is an exception, and an exception is written into the record rather than out of it.
Evidence
Seal verification, weight, receiving signature
- 05
Destroyed under observation
Destruction is performed by the stated method under camera. You may witness it in person, on site or at the plant.
Evidence
Method, standard, operator ID, destruction timestamp
- 06
Certificate issued
The Certificate of Destruction is generated from the record above, not typed up afterwards. Every seal number reconciles or the certificate does not issue.
Evidence
Certificate number, authorized signature, retained copy
On-site or off-site
Where the destruction actually happens
Both produce the same certificate. They differ in where custody ends and in what a witness can see.
On-site
- Where
- Destroyed in the truck at your loading dock
- Custody
- Material never leaves your address intact
- Witness
- In person from the dock. A camera feed is not a substitute — the CJIS glossary is explicit that cameras do not constitute an escort
- Suits
- CJI and evidence material, classified-adjacent holdings, and any SOW that names on-site destruction
Off-site
- Where
- Sealed, transported, destroyed at the plant
- Custody
- Numbered seals and a signed transfer at every hand-off
- Witness
- Scheduled plant witness in person. Video is retained, but it does not satisfy a CJIS escort requirement
- Suits
- Routine scheduled service and high-volume purges where throughput sets the price
Seals
What a seal number proves, and what it does not
A tamper-evident seal is not a lock. It cannot stop anyone opening a container — it makes opening one impossible to hide.
It is numbered before it moves
The number is recorded and countersigned at your address, in front of your staff member. A number applied later, out of your sight, proves nothing about the journey.
It is checked against a manifest
At intake, the seals presented are reconciled against the seals expected. Counts must match, and each individual number must match. A correct count with a wrong number is still a break.
A mismatch is an exception, not an error
It is logged with the time, the operator, and what was done about it. Both the original entry and the correction are retained. A vendor whose records never contain an exception is not running a record, they are running a template.