Whoever above that posted to quit now was right.
Three years ago, I had a stupid moment and volunteered to take over our evidence room. Should have shot myself in the head, it probably would have been less painful. The guy who had been doing the evidence for the past 15 or so years had just been logging stuff in and sending stuff out that had to go to the lab. That's it. I still had stuff in the evidence room from 1997! A few years before this, we also had a guy who dislocated his shoulder. While on light duty, he worked in the evidence room, trying to dispose of some of the older evidence. When he disposed of the evidence, he just put the destruction orders in a big paper grocery bag and didn't even make an attempt to file them in any way shape or form, just tossed in a bag. It took me 6 months working 1 complete day a week to straighten out the paperwork and the evidence, then another 6 months to get some of the older crap out and disposed of. We're also a small Dept (7 full time including the Chief and 10 part time) so, once I got the evidence straightened out, its not too hard to keep it that way.
Some things to consider, in no particular order:
1. I don't know how your Dept handles "found property", things like abandoned bikes and the crap that ends up in "lost and found", things that are turned in but not strictly evidence. In my Dept, I handle it along with the evidence and, in fact, most of it ends up logged into evidence so it is easy to keep track of. I don't know how AL handles it but, in OH, if it is not evidence or if it is and no charges are filed, then you don't have to submit a destruction order to the Court, the Chief can sign off on it. This cuts down on a LOT of paperwork and really streamlines the process for these items. This enabled me to get rid of a LOT of crap pretty quickly. It is well worth checking into to see if you can do this with "found property".
2. Things that should have never been taken in the first place. We have a LOT of guys that absolutely LOVE to take, say, full unopened 12- and 24-pks of beer from OVIs, even when the driver is of legal age and the cases are sealed and weren't involved in the OVI. In fact, most of the alcohol in the evidence room was simply seized like this and wasn't evidence in any way, shape or form. Again, check with your Prosecutors and Judges to make sure, but after I pounded it through their skulls that unopened alcohol containers ARE NOT evidence if the driver is over 21, it cut down a LOT on alcohol in the evidence room. I'd advise them to take pictures of anything like that they find, but if it is unopened, it is not evidence of an OVI.
3. Check and see about evidence retention requirements for major cases. In OH, we are REQUIRED to keep evidence for things like rape for 30 years, or until ALL Court proceedings (including appeals), jail time, parole, etc is completed and the perp is free and clear or until the perp dies, whichever comes first. It is a MAJOR pain but, for things like that, you can safely hide it away in a far corner or high up on a far shelf or something like that.
4. If your State or agency offers a course about Property Room Management, TAKE IT! I took one offered by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy and it was well worth the effort. Learned a LOT and still use most of it.
5. Check with your Courts and see how they want destruction orders handled if they send them to you with case dispositions. With out County Courts, a lot of the time (but not all the time), when they send dispositions out when a case is disposed of, they will send out an order to destroy any pertinent evidence. Unfortunately, even if they do, they still want me to send the regular paperwork to them to get approval when I actually intend to destroy it. Kinda stupid and redundant, but that's the way they want it done.
6. Make sure that you know how whatever lab you use does their evidence receiving and can articulate it. Our lab (we use Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation labs) recently made a LOT of changes as to what and how much evidence they will take for a lot of cases. For example, for rapes, they used to accept pretty much anything you sent in for DNA testing. Recently they changed and will only accept a rape kit and the Victim's underwear for a first submission. If DNA is found, they will not accept anything else for testing for that case. If they do not find DNA, they will accept other Victim clothing and something else, I can't remember what, and that is all. If DNA is found, they will not accept anything else. If not, they will accept a few more things and so on and so on. It REALLY ticks off the investigating Officers, but it is what it is and you need to be able to articulate to them that it isn't your fault, it is the lab. That way, you don't get crap for it, either from the Officers or the Courts.
I'm sure there are a lot of others that I can't remember right now. Just remember, document EVERYTHING and CYA. Good luck with your new job responsibilities.
Bub