Has the condition of your property system given you nightmares?  Could drugs be disappearing?  Is money mysteriously coming up short or missing?  Are too many things getting lost?  Is the system secure enough?

Every law enforcement administration is concerned about their property system.  The first step is difficult: taking a long hard look at our property systems.  You may not like what you see, and changes are often slow and
difficult.  However, to avoid being "too late" with your answers, you need to take a good look at the system, and the evidence being held within that system.  A good view comes from some type of auditing process.

I began working in the Lincoln Police Department's Property Unit in 1975.  At that time we had two rooms that were literally stuffed with the department's evidence.  There was no system to locate evidence or dispose of evidence.  Chain of custody procedures were almost nonexistent.

The Lincoln Police Department Property Unit was first audited in the fall of 1974.  The audit was conducted by a local accounting firm and included all items in the department's custody.  The audit pointed out some major problems.

Many items were missing; some items were on shelves but no identification was attached.  Evidence had been checked out and was never returned.  We found many items that should have been disposed of, and had not been.

Once the audit was completed, we proceeded with a long overdue house cleaning.  After that we looked at our procedures.  We designed a new report form that provided a chain of custody area.  The report provides the chain of custody from the officer's initial contact to the eventual disposal of the evidence.  We tightened our security to allow limited access to evidence storage areas.  We added package procedures that gave greater integrity to our unit's handling of evidence.  We began the procedure of heat sealing all money and narcotics evidence.

Disposal of evidence can be another problem.  We record all disposal on the property report.  Two signatures are required on the report for the destruction of guns and narcotics.  Items cannot be put to personal use, however we do, at times, transfer them to departmental use.  To keep evidence from piling up, we found that we needed to have an ongoing purging system.  A system was set up to continually get dispositions from the officers, court system or prosecuting attorney.

In 1976 we had our second complete audit.  Much improvement was noted; however, more was needed.  Improvement came slowly, and also seemed minor at times.  After the first two audits, we continued to have an audit of drugs, narcotics and money yearly.  The audit results get better every year, yet there always seems to be a way to improve our system. 

Special thanks to contributing author Pam Fittje, a cofounder of the Nebraska Association of Property and Evidence.  Her articles have previously been published in Nebraska Peace Officer  and the NAPE Newsletter.