By Joseph T Latta, IAPE Executive Director During the past twelve months the Evidence Log has been committed to bringing our readers the latest property room news, including an insight into the almost unbelievable variety of property and evidence that finds its way into law enforcement property rooms across the county. Last November I had the opportunity to teach an IACP property management course sponsored by the Oregon Department of Justice in Tigard, OR. As with every class, there is someone in the class that provides us with a new "I've got something you don't have." In Oregon, however, I was faced with something different from any class I have ever conducted fourteen members of the class were from the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS), and every one of them had something to share with the class. The NMFS is responsible for policing our nation's waters for fish and marine violations. With the responsibility of protecting valuable resources and endangered species, the organization is continuously generating some of the most unusual items of evidence one would ever encounter in a property room. The following are some of those strange but true things that we find in the depths of the property rooms of the National Marine Fisheries Services:
Ken Yearwood at KSDO radio in San Diego sent along this little morality play about a really stupid seafood lover, and how he learned that crime doesn't pay. Dude walked into a store, grabbed two live lobsters and stuffed them into his pants pockets. This apparently ticked off one of the lobsters, who clamped a big claw onto our hero's private parts. Police had little trouble spotting the suspect. He was the one lying on the sidewalk, clutching his groin and screaming. Police couldn't get mean Mr. Lobster to let go. Finally a clerk from the fish store helped out with some pliers, but not before the thief had passed out from the pain. Hospital workers spent three hours trying to repair the damage. I ask these questions about the news story. Was the lobster booked into the local police department? How do you store a lobster? Should we call the NMFS next time? Other interesting items held in property rooms of agencies represented in that Oregon class and a subsequent Virginia class included:
Kaczynski's cabin transported to trial. The newspaper article included a photo showing an entire mountain cabin under wraps on the flatbed of a 26 wheel tractor-trailer rig. It seems that the cabin itself, which was the primary residence of Unibomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski, was being transported 1,100 miles to be introduced as evidence in a Sacramento, CA, courtroom. The defense attorneys said that it would help establish that their client suffered mental disorders. Not surprisingly, after the cabin arrived the defense changed its mind,
and decided not to use it. If nothing else, the cabin will probably
make some hardworking courtroom property officer go crazy! Copyright © 1997 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 1997, Number 4, Page 4 |
