FAQ
Answers to the questions we hear most.
Straightforward answers about what Second Trace is, who it is for, and how it treats evidence, uncertainty, and privacy.
What is Second Trace?
Second Trace is a secure investigative workspace for organizing cold-case information with full provenance. It holds the fragmented record of a case — sources, claims, timelines, relationships, and analysis — in one disciplined structure where every fact is traceable and every uncertainty is visible.
Who is it for?
Authorized investigators, journalists, researchers, legal teams, nonprofits, and responsible members of the public who need to organize complex case information over long periods — with access controlled per case.
Is Second Trace affiliated with law enforcement?
No. Second Trace is an independently built documentation and analysis tool. It is not affiliated with any law-enforcement agency and does not connect to official systems such as CODIS, ViCAP, or NamUs.
Does Second Trace determine guilt or rank suspects?
No — and it is structurally prevented from doing so. It never scores guilt, never ranks suspects, and never converts allegations, testimony, or inferences into facts. Presumption of innocence is displayed on every case.
How does it handle uncertain or disputed information?
Uncertainty is first-class. Timelines hold exact, approximate, disputed, range, and unknown states side by side and never merge conflicting accounts. Every claim is typed — fact, allegation, testimony, inference, hypothesis, or unknown — and that type is preserved through analysis and export.
How does the AI work?
Where deterministic methods are better (hashing, deduplication, full-text search), those are used instead of a language model. Where AI assists, it retrieves only case-authorized material, must cite it, is labeled as AI output, and requires human verification. “Insufficient evidence” is treated as a complete answer.
Is my case data private?
Yes. Every case lives inside an organization with row-level security enforced by the database itself. Uploaded originals are immutable and content-addressed (SHA-256), audit events are append-only, and case material is not used to train AI models.
Does Second Trace support collaboration?
Yes — roles, invitations, comments, review flows, and restricted notes let a team work together without compromising the integrity of the record.
Is Second Trace a substitute for professional advice?
No. It is a documentation and organization instrument, not legal, investigative, or forensic advice. Always consult the appropriate licensed professional for any real-world matter.
Want to go deeper? The resource library has practical guides on building timelines, organizing evidence, responsible OSINT, and the ethics of researching unsolved cases.