This is the second in a series of articles that will examine at least 25 different areas of concern regarding the operation of a professional property unit. In each issue of the Evidence Log we will discuss an area (or areas) of property unit operation, but using a common format, in order to make the articles more useful as references. In each article, we will (1) describe the area to be discussed, (2) quote standards for the area from various sources, and (3) provide a narrative discussion of the goals that the standards hope to accomplish.

          Very frequently the responsibilities of an agency's Property Officer are similar to those in other like-size departments in the surrounding geographical region. There is, however, a great risk that attention to the property room could be diluted due to the many other supply, equipment, and miscellaneous duties of the Property Officer.

          The primary responsibility of a Property Officer is to receive all incoming property, properly and securely store it so that it remains readily accessible, lawfully release or destroy it, and maintain documentation of the entire process that is sufficiently accurate and complete to satisfy any competent court which has reason to examine the process. Sometimes this is all done by a sole property room employee in a small department, and sometimes each part is done by a specialist of a large property room staff in a large agency, but in any case, the person designated as the Property Officer has the responsibility for seeing that it all happens.

          What makes the task significantly more difficult, however, is that the Property Officer seldom has any functional authority over those who decide what property to submit, over those who package the property, over those who check property out for court, analysis or other reasons, or over those who must make the decisions regarding the timing and method of the property's disposition. The result is that the Property Officer has a very large and fairly clearly defined responsibility, but no specific authority to carry it out.

          There are two ways to "borrow the clout" necessary to accomplish the Property Officer's task. One is to depend on a ranking member of the Department, and to go to him or her with any situation in which assistance is needed. This is not recommended, as it depends on maintaining the good will of that person, and leaves another person completely in control of the priorities of the agency's property function.

          The recommended tool for giving the property officer the ability to live up to his or her responsibilities is department policy, clearly written and consistently enforced. The only real authority needed by the Property Officer is the "right of refusal." He or she must have the right to refuse to accept any property that is not property marked, packaged, or documented, and the right to refuse to release any property whose release is not properly authorized. This column will expand on that and deal with policy specifically in the next issue of The Evidence Log, so let's return our focus to the Property Officer's responsibility as we look at accepted standards.

Standards

The role of the property room employee should be well defined in any police agency. The employee should act only as the custodian of property coming into the agency and should have no voice or responsibility in authorizing the booking, release, or disposition of property.  IACP Policy Paper, Page 3

• Preserve all incoming property from contamination, theft, or loss.
• Maintain and update property documentation with tracking information, commonly referred to as the "chain of custody".
• Ensure that all releases and dispositions of property are legal and properly documented.
• Arrange and document interim releases and returns of property for court, crime lab analysis, or investigative use.
• Operate computer terminals as needed.
• Prepare and forward property-related forms to requesting units and agencies.
• Serve as liaison between the agency and other local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies.
• Maintain current knowledge of Federal, State, and local law related to property management.
• Provide for maintenance of the storage facility.
• Inventory property based on the policy demands of the agency.
• Ensure that all efforts are taken to make the property room as safe as possible for employees aswell as property. 

          The ultimate goal for any property received by a Property Officer is the appropriate disposition of that property, whether in compliance with court order, through release to its rightful owner, or through other legal means, such as auction, diversion, or destruction.

          Both management and supervision need to more closely monitor the Property Officer's regular activities to insure that priorities are established and properly implemented. Specific goals and objectives are needed to direct the Property Officer in completing certain tasks, such as regular purging. The property room needs the full time attention of a manager, both as a leader and as a monitor of policy and procedure.