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I'm being tasked with evidence / property supervision

1K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  GSD17 
#1 ·
I'm being tasked at supervising the evidence and property at my part time gig. I know that sounds funny, but it works in our agency. It's an agency of less than 10 officers and no civilian staff. Of those less than 10, there are only about 3 that really ever bring anything in - so it's pretty slow paced. However, the whole system was a mess and no one was really overseeing it and keeping it legit. So, now I am.

First, I know the obvious rules of evidence and chain of custody.

I'm just looking for tips from others that have done this. Any suggested reading? Websites? Resources?
 
#2 ·
If you're allowed to do some training for it, Patc has a good 2 day starter class. Otherwise IAPE is also a good reference. They also have a starter class, but I've not been to that one.

Make sure you do an inventory first and document anything that isn't there so you aren't on the hook for it.

Don't be too good at the admin stuff or soon you'll find yourself with several other responsibilities for which you receive no extra pay, rank, or perks. Ask me how I know ;)
 
#3 ·
If you're allowed to do some training for it, Patc has a good 2 day starter class. Otherwise IAPE is also a good reference.

Make sure you do an inventory first and document anything that isn't there so you aren't on the hook for it.

Don't be too good at the admin stuff or soon you'll find yourself with several other responsibilities for which you receive no extra pay, rank, or perks. Ask me how I know ;)
Good idea about documenting beforehand. Part of the problem is years of improperly documented items, many if not most from officers who no longer even work there.

I know ALL to well about the extra work for no extra perks, thing. At my full time agency, I am an FTO, Assistant FTO Manager, (am also the "problem rookie" FTO that gets the crap rooks) am repeatedly asked to create policies on certain topics, Taser instructor, eCite and eCrash instructor. . . I could go on and on. . . when it came time for the promotion....guy with 5 years less experience that does none of the above... meh, whatever.
 
#4 ·
Inventory everything. Get a spreadsheet. List item description, case number, property control (inventory) number, case type, impounding officer, investigating officer, date time, location impounded, etc.

Since you are a small dept, not sure if you want a program to run it or just use a spreadsheet. Get folders, carbon copy sheets etc.

Ensure you know your laws on evidence preservation, etc. As well as best practices.
 
#6 ·
Inventory everything. Get a spreadsheet. List item description, case number, property control (inventory) number, case type, impounding officer, investigating officer, date time, location impounded, etc.

Since you are a small dept, not sure if you want a program to run it or just use a spreadsheet. Get folders, carbon copy sheets etc.

Ensure you know your laws on evidence preservation, etc. As well as best practices.
The small agency actually uses the same reporting software as my full time agency, which does track evidence inventory, just hasn't been anyone doing it.
 
#9 ·
That's a big job even for a smaller agency. One of our Lts retired and came back part time to manage out property section.

It was one of those jobs you never get ahead of.

If yall have good software then it's important they begin using it and storing evidence by the book.

I would recommend going through and tossing or auctioning any property that has passed it statute of limitations or its appeal time. That will clean you up in there and let you get a real system in place.
 
#10 ·
Think you could score me some weed? :whistling:

Randy
Make sure you have the only key to the room.

Retail stores have problems with inventory 'shrinkage'. They try to reduce it by limiting access to the storerooms.
Oh yeah. I worked for Wal-Mart in high school. I'm familiar with shrinkage.

I'd be the only one with a key. Right now, each officer has a locked drawer which is in a small closet like room that only LE have a key to (no cleaning people or other city employees)..the evidence is supposed to be taken in to the evidence vault by the evidence custodian after that----which they are the only one with the key. Just hasn't been anyone doing it. It just piles up in the drawers and flows out all where it shouldn't be.
 
#12 ·
That's a big job even for a smaller agency. One of our Lts retired and came back part time to manage out property section.

It was one of those jobs you never get ahead of.

If yall have good software then it's important they begin using it and storing evidence by the book.

I would recommend going through and tossing or auctioning any property that has passed it statute of limitations or its appeal time. That will clean you up in there and let you get a real system in place.
That is exactly what the chief wants to start with. I think he is overwhelmed by the excess of very old stuff from officers long gone.
 
#19 ·
It took me probably a year to get all the stuff out of the evidence/property/equipment/general dumping ground room. Unfortunately, a lot of other stuff has creeped its way back in there. I got rid of all the old evidence and found property (college agency). We still have probably 20 years worth of drugs I've been trying to get disposed of, but I just can't seem to make it a priority with whomever is in charge. Mostly personal use quantities, but a few distribution cases. We're getting a new building in about a year and a half, so I'm really trying to get rid of anything and everything I legally can so I don't have to move it.

We're hiring a few more officers soon, so I'm really wanting to dump this responsibility on a noob. I'm not saying I'm a pro at it, but it's worlds better than it was. Besides, a few months ago, I was appointed my school's Clery Grand Poohbah and that's big job in itself. Add to that being the agency contact for ACJIS, taser instructor, and a few other less time consuming instructor certs, actually leaving the office and patrolling and responding to calls once in a while, and I've got enough crap already. Meanwhile, there are other officers skating by doing nothing other than normal patrol duties.
 
#13 ·
I would add that those items that can properly be returned to owners or destroyed (in accordance with state law and policy of course) be returned or destroyed.

Example: marijuana that was seized by an officer who quit 3 years ago. If they arent prosecuting the case destroy it.

Have proper procedures for destruction of property etc.
 
#14 ·
Please don't destroy the vintage Lugers, Colt Pythons, or Tommy guns seized as evidence.

For instance, the internal parts for a ratty Colt Python are in demand by custom gunsmiths. The department could make enough $ to buy a couple of cases of ammo.
 
#15 ·
In all seriousness, you need to do two things immediately (and bear in mind I'm not dispensing legal advice here, as part of the first thing is not kosher):

1) Purge the evidence room of everything older than 5 years (except major crimes)
1a) Once purged, stay on top of it and get **** out of there regularly

You should be able to seek a court order for everything prior to a certain date all at once, one filing. I basically sent an inventory with item description, case dispo, and case number to the prosecutor and they sent in on to the muni court judge who issued a blanket order, then I just threw almost all of it in a dumpster (that's the 'not kosher' part).

2) Issue a directive about what is and is not evidence and don't accept **** to book as evidence

Open containers of alcohol are not evidence. Found bicycles are not evidence. Hell, found property of any sort is not evidence and isn't your responsibility. Make sure you are only accepting legit evidentiary value items. Some officers need to be instructed that everything they find at a crime scene isn't automatically evidence and to leave it the **** there!
 
#16 ·
Please don't destroy the vintage Lugers, Colt Pythons, or Tommy guns seized as evidence.

For instance, the internal parts for a ratty Colt Python are in demand by custom gunsmiths. The department could make enough $ to buy a couple of cases of ammo.
Lord they do at my place.

I watched them toss a pristine full auto MP5 into the incinerator one time. I wept. No amount of fussing whining appealing to a higher power would prevent it. I wrote a letter trying to make them see that it would be a great tool for teaching officers about full auto weapons blah blah blah. Hopeless. It went into the incinerator with all the Cobras, Taurus, Hipoint, and Jiminez arms guns.

Then they auctioned off a few rusty old bicycles. Evidence room clean up done.
 
#17 ·
I would add that those items that can properly be returned to owners or destroyed (in accordance with state law and policy of course) be returned or destroyed.

Example: marijuana that was seized by an officer who quit 3 years ago. If they arent prosecuting the case destroy it.

Have proper procedures for destruction of property etc.
Destroy it in a bong....or a fireplace ;)
 
#18 ·
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
 
#20 ·
Nothing to add, but a funny story.

Before I started at my place, there were 3 people with access to our evidence room: The Chief, The Captain, and a Sergeant who was the actual evidence custodian. The door is monitored and recorded 24/7 and it is a key-card access so it is logged who went in at what time.

Sergeant goes on FMLA for the birth of a child and they assign someone else to tend to the evidence room on a temporary basis, give his key card access, etc.

Sergeant decides on his time off that he's gonna buy a brand new H3 Hummer. He comes rolling up to the PD one day in this brand new Hummer to show it off to everyone.

Unbeknownst to him, it was just discovered (like, within the hour prior) that there was several thousand dollars of cash missing from the evidence room. And now this Sergeant comes to the PD in his brand new rig. It was the Chief before our current one, but I'm told that he about sh*t himself on the spot.

Throughout the investigation, which involved the DCI (our state-level version of the FBI), it was determined that the actual thief was the guy they assigned as the temporary custodian. What a fiasco.
 
#21 ·
Consider harping on the great divide between misdemeanors and felonies. I have come to the point where pretty much the only misdemeanors I'll bother entering evidence for are OWI, DV, and restraining order violations issued pursuant to DV or assault.

It has been zero disservice to the public.
 
#22 ·
If you haven't taken over already I'd request an audit of the property/evidence before taking over. CYA!

At my agency the "evidence" person has been a non-sworn for close to 20 years now. One young kid that was hired for the job had absolutely no training for the job and some techs from the County SO had to come over and "teach" him for several weeks. After 2 years working the job he resigned and went to work with the County.

The person who replaced him was a dispatcher. Absolutely no audit was conducted of the evidence room before she took over. She had zero certified training before she took over. She ended up tossing out evidence from active cases that were still in the appeals phase! She still has her job!

It's bad enough when my agency has two Beretta pistols that they can't account for and yet hire people to work the evidence vault with no training and no auditing of the vault before a new person takes over. It's as if the term "liability" doesn't apply to my department!

(My apologies for rambling...).
 
#24 ·
This^

I would never want to do evidence. We used to have sworn guys doing the job, but since the big CALEA revamps, now it's civilians doing it full time. The last sworn guy to have the job was one of my FTOs and a friend. He inherited a mess. He was a smart dude though ... He went through the evidence inventory with the commanding officer of the troop and the old evidence guy. It was all logged and signed off on by the old guy and CO, that way any issues there were recorded as not being on his watch. He ended up sorting it all out into a smooth running machine that they used as a model for the new civilian staff that took over.

All he told me over and over was that being the evidence custodian sucks, and sucks bad. Oh, and that a lot of dudes need their asses kicked or intelligence assessed after bringing in some of the crap they did.

Side note - why would you seize open containers as evidence for a DUI? We don't and I am curious why anyone would. If the driver was legally allowed to drink and had open containers we often times take a picture and note it in the report, but never seize it so we are not filling up the evidence rooms with junk. Even for MIP. If a minor has booze it's poured out on the spot generally (have a great story about a 18 year old, a keg and a hatchet for another day). Is it a requirement or a practice?
 
#25 ·
So, from the collective brain, I gather:

* Have an audit
* Make sure all access is restricted and documented
* Commit suicide

Is that about it?
 
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