The documentation of incidents and other supporting material is critical to stopping cyberbullying and online harassment. The evidence — and manner in which it is named, saved, stored, and shared — is essential in providing investigators and detectives with the information they need to pursue your case.
- Be careful. Don’t click on anything you shouldn’t as your browse and document.
- Take screen captures.
- If you’re on the move, take them on your mobile device.
- The best screen captures include the full browser, especially the URL, because the string of characters is a unique address. It’s easiest to get it on a desktop or laptop. If you’re on a Mac, make sure your window is set to show the full URL.
- Be consistent with your documentation naming convention. Make sure it’s meaningful to you, so you’ll remember it more easily.
- Profile Name – URL or extension – Description – Date of Screen Capture – Number in Sequence
- Naming convention examples:
- Lisa-Michelle Kucharz FB lisamichelle.kucharz message to me 10-16-2017 1
- Lisa-Michelle Kucharz FB lisamichelle.kucharz message to me 10-16-2017 2
- Lisa-Michelle Kucharz Twitter lmkucharz new blog tweet 10-16-2017 1
- Lisa-Michelle Kucharz Blog Title 10-16-2017 1
- Lisa-Michelle Kucharz Blog Title 10-16-2017 2
- Naming convention examples:
- Profile Name – URL or extension – Description – Date of Screen Capture – Number in Sequence
- Sort your documents in folders consistently.
- Include key words and phrases to help you find items when searching, like date, content type, and profile name.
- Folder name examples:
- 10-16-2017
- Content generated by Lisa-Michelle Kucharz
- Facebook messages from Lisa-Michelle Kucharz
- Tweets by lmkucharz
- Blogs by Lisa-Michelle Kucharz
- Folder name examples:
- Include key words and phrases to help you find items when searching, like date, content type, and profile name.
- Regularly place your screen captures from your computers, phone, and other sources into the categorized folders. If necessary, create duplicate items for separate folders.
- Save your documentation in multiple locations. For example, save documents on a computer, an external hard drive, and a secure file sharing platform.
Lisa-Michelle Kucharz‘s professional experience and organizational skills helped her keep impeccable records throughout her cyberstalking and harassment ordeal. With thousands of posts, comments, messages, and videos, from multiple alias accounts over a long period of time, the documentation provided was a key factor in helping investigators and law enforcement solve the case.