Property Standards #9: Storing "Special Handling" Items By Gordon A. Bowers, Vice-President, I.A.P.E. This, is the ninth article in a series on Property Standards starting with the editorial "Who Makes Property Standards?" in the Evidence Log, Volume 96, Number 2. If you are interested in the earlier articles, check the I.A.P.E. web pages. If you would like to see one that isn't there yet, drop an e-mail with the request to Webmaster@IAPE.org. In previous issues of the Evidence Log we have discussed the special handling necessary for guns, narcotics and currency. They all deserve special handling based on their value, which probably is what gives them their unique positions as being the primary targets in the vast majority of all cases of property mismanagement. There are certain other classes of property, however, that require special treatment for reasons totally separate from their value as evidence. These items are either dangerous, difficult to package or store, or perishable. In this issue we will discuss items from each of these three categories:
Flammable Substances, Syringes and Sharps
Bulk Items, Vehicles, Long Items, Bicycles
Items Requiring Refrigeration, Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages Most items that come into an agency as Evidence and/or Property, will be stored in a designated storage location. Some agencies are not equipped with the storage space or proper facilities necessary to maintain various specialized items such as biological material, flammables, vehicles, bulk items, narcotics, etc. CAPE - Property Manual, Page 29, 11/11/95The fact that an item is hazardous, difficult to package or store, or perishable causes no reduction whatsoever on the necessity for maintaining the chain of custody while it is held. Nor does it lessen the need to present it back in the same condition in which it was received. Although there are some cost-reducing alternatives available for maintaining such evidence, cost cannot be the controlling factor in storing the item. If the Agency cannot maintain appropriate storage of an item, the only available alternate is finding another agency that can do so. Maintaining the evidence in an inappropriate manner is unacceptable. Flammable Substances Standard: By definition, a “flammable" is virtually anything that is easily set on fire. The storage of flammables should therefore be in an area away from the regular or indoor storage facility. The following suggests the minimum standards for the storage of flammables:
Syringes and Sharps It is important to remember that the cut or puncture caused by an injury from a syringe, knife or other sharp object is of insignificant concern compared to the risk of infection from whatever biological or chemical contaminant may be on the sharp. Dying from a small cut on your hand from careless handling of evidence would be thought to be impossible, but an HIV infection from the same incident is generally thought to be an ultimate death sentence. With the immense downside risk involved, it is imperative that the safety precautions be commensurate. Syringes in general are being booked into evidence substantially less frequently, now that their great hazard is well known. They almost never are presented as evidence in court. The hazard from syringes and sharps is very real, and directives need to insure that all needles are securely contained in an appropriate marked sharps container. Some agencies have gone so far as to prohibit hypodermic syringe needles as evidence. Instead, they are immediately placed in a sealed container for destruction. Consider destroying all syringes, rather than storing them, since so few ever go to court, and the possible loss of a case would be less damaging than the infection of an employee. Bulk Items and Vehicles A bulk item can be defined as any item that cannot be stored readily in the regular storage area due to size. It includes items such as tires. vehicle parts, carts, lawn equipment, bikes etc. It is recommended that an outside area be designed to meet these suggested requirements.Bulk items take up an abnormally large storage area due to their size and shape. These bulky items are rarely signed out, and many times are of minimum evidentiary value. Consideration should be given to storing bulk items (car parts, tires, etc.) at a remote location if space at the main facility is a concern. Removing such bulk items, would free large amounts of space in many current property rooms. If a contract tow service is used by your agency, consider an element of the contract requiring them to maintain a certain amount of secure fenced area, and highly secure garage area, to store vehicles and other large, bulky items of evidence. Remember that your chain of custody is expanded for such items. Items Requiring Refrigeration Most agencies have at least a minimal capability for handling of evidence requiring refrigeration or freezing. Keep in mind that the need for refrigeration does not negate the need for security. Recent technological advances in the use of DNA evidence have been dramatic. The growing need for DNA evidence and the increasing intensity of sex and domestic violence investigations will multiply the need for secure and safe storage for these types of evidence. Policy does not specify exactly what will be placed in such storage, and it is likely that detectives will tend to err on the side of too much evidence for too long a period of time. A written policy should specify exactly what types of evidence require such storage, and how ii should be packaged. Efforts should be made to minimize the need for such special handling by requiring shoplift and other such minor misdemeanor evidence to be marked and stored by the complaining party, with just a photograph included in the report. Another suggestion would be to have a Detective or Property Management Unit personnel coordinate with the crime lab to determine if the entire item needs to be preserved. For instance, if the comer of a blanket that had a blood stain on it could be saved in lieu of the entire blanket, substantial storage space savings could result. Keeping much more refrigerated and frozen evidence, and for much longer periods of time, could develop into a significant problem in the future, and needs to be given consideration in any plans for a new facility. Carefully evaluate any purchase of new freezers. The Freezers need to be frost free, and maintained so as to reduce risk of water and other damage to the evidence stored there. Sales persons for commercial refrigeration units seldom advise prospective purchasers that stainless steel panels usually are decorative options. Utilizing a walk-in freezer is generally more cost effective than equal storage in stand-alone units. Any new freezer must be equipped with an alarm that indicates if the temperature rises above a designated threshold level. Contamination due to thawing after an equipment malfunction is unacceptable, so the alarm must be monitored in a 24-hour location, such as the communication center. Consideration should also be given to "mobile shelving" in a new freezer, which could significantly increase its capacity. Long, Slender Items The storage of long, slender items, such as poles, rods, sticks, batons, broom or ax handles, and the like, have always created a nightmare for storing evidence within the property room. This particular type of evidence usually ends up stacked one on top of another or standing up in a barrel, causing property tags to be damaged and creating huge problems when trying to retrieve them. One solution
to eliminate this would be an easily constructed box with a wire crosshatch
at The other possibility is to remove the shelves from a wall unit, line the back of the unit's frame with 3/4" plywood, and insert wooden doweling (pegs) or metal rods spaced at various widths and heights. Each of these pegs/rods would have a specific address number (location) in an organized pattern. The pegs or hooks could then be used to hang the various items. If a heavy duty rubber band was looped around each item, it could easily be hung up on the panel. To increase the volume, an additional piece of plywood could also be placed in the center of the shelving unit, possibly hinged to open like a door. This storage solution was described and plans were provided in the Evidence Log, Volume 97, No. 1. Bicycles Another issue related to labor intensive storage is that of bicycles. Efficient storage is almost impossible, and it is not unusual for a damage claim to be filed against a department related to damage alleged to have occurred to expensive mountain or racing bicycles while they were in police custody. Exterior storage is common, but leaves the risk of damage to the bikes from exposure to the weather. Generally speaking Found Property and Property for Safekeeping items should be returned to the owners as quickly as possible, and almost all of the bicycles fall in these categories. The trick is to keep the inventory constantly rotating. Interior storage
would be preferable to avoid potential liability for damage to the bikes
from weather exposure. Consider a policy requiring the Detective to make a determination on the evidentiary value of a bicycle any time one is booked into evidence. Has a bicycle ever been taken to court? Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages There are two considerations that need attention in most Agencies related to the storing of alcohol and similar liquids as evidence. The first is a policy to reduce the overall need for alcohol to be stored as evidence, and the second is the procedure for the actual storage of the item presented as evidence. It is an accepted fact that alcohol is almost never admitted in court as evidence. This holds true for kegs and cases as well as for individual bottles. Storing this contraband only hampers the efficient operation of the property room. A policy supporting the field dumping of alcohol at the location of the detention should be developed if it is not in place. Such a policy must include a mandate that the alcohol is actually destroyed in the presence of the violator, and that it does not end up in the officer's trunk. Two exceptions may justify the retention of an alcoholic beverage and its container as evidence. If the alcohol is part of the probable cause for an arrest, or is related in another critical way to another more serious crime, the evidence should be handled like any other evidence. Another situation prompting caution would be in the case of alcohol that has been seized pursuant to any liquor license violations. The alcohol may be needed for the prosecution of such a violation, and the administrative hearing process for many Alcoholic Beverage Control Departments can go on for years. If there is a need to store the alcohol as evidence, first consider whether a sample of the beverage would be sufficient to take for analysis and/or evidence, and then whether the container is necessary as evidence, or convenient as a container. If a small vial with a sample of the contents of a magnum bottle of champagne is all that is actually necessary from an evidentiary point of view, the officer has saved the property staff significant effort. When was the last time you took a beer keg to court? On the other hand, if a screw-cap bottle of beer is necessary as evidence justifying a search of a car where drugs were found, there is no need for analysis of the contents. Having the officer just seal the bottle and book it in, or even empty it and book only the container, is preferable to booking an unnecessary vial of the contents when no analysis will ever be necessary. Keep in mind
that evidence needing special handling is still evidence. No rules
of evidence handling should be ignored because of the special handling
needs of the evidence. Copyright © 1999 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 1999, Number 1, Page 13 |
the
top and near the bottom to allow items to stand up in an identifiable grid
section. This photo shows how it can maximize efficiency, while still
separating the items to avoid damage and to ease locating a particular
one for audit and retrieval.
Whether
inside or out, consider the use of hooks on an overhead pipe from which
to hang bicycles to maximize space efficiency. Review should be considered
of old criminal cases in which a bicycle was taken as evidence. Was
the bicycle the suspect's transportation; was it an instrument of the crime;
was it taken just to further inconvenience the criminal? Making unnecessary
seizures of private property as evidence may sometimes risk civil or criminal
penalties, but it always punishes the Property Specialist, who then has
to deal with the handling, storage and disposition issues.
