• Avoid being alone at a crime scene at all times. • Determine escape routes. Take into consideration how to transport the information gathered away from the location. • Information should be handed over to professionals at the first opportunity as carrying the gathered information can pose a risk to oneself, those involved in the information gathering and the information itself. • Find out which other actors are working in the area, and who can be trusted and collaborated with. • Determine the trustworthiness of local authorities and police chiefs. • After information is transferred, any information on phones or computers that are not secured should be deleted. Copies of documents should be destroyed if originals are handed over, and if no longer needed. • Safety should always take precedence over the preservation of information. Personal security measures are important not only for the collection of information stage but also the holding of important information on serious human rights violations may pose serious threats to your personal security (see also Section 4.3 on security measures, particularly 4.3.3 on personal security measures). It is important to realize that perpetrators of human rights violations have an interest in destroying evidence, and may well consider violent means to do so. Security risks can originate from many different persons or organizations, including terrorists, gangs, (drug) cartels, (international) criminals, and warlords. These risks can also originate from the police, military forces, opposition groups, rebel forces, local chiefs, or individual perpetrators of human rights violations. Security risks may include (attempted) murder, rape, beatings, police brutality or harassment, arbitrary detention, bombings, intimidation, arson, etc.46 However, consider also that statistically speaking road traffic accidents and unexploded mines remain the greatest security risk for most 46 Amnesty International and CODESRIA, Ukweli. Monitoring and Documenting Human Rights Violations in Africa: A Handbook, 58 (2000), available at https://www.amnesty.nl/sites/default/files/public/ukw_eng.pdf. 43