Dialogue This is the second of the Dialogue series, featuring exchanges between
IAPE members. Join in with some of the most knowledgeable property professionals
in the world.
Lawrence: I am in charge of our evidence room and I attended your class several years ago. Do you have any information on companies that sell or rent outside storage sheds? I seem to remember during the class an advertisement for old military type storage containers. Any information you could send me would be greatly appreciated. Latta: The use of an external shed or container Dialogue between Sergeant Mike Perkins, Sedalia (MO) Police Department, The Evidence Log Editor Gordon Bowers, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Perkins: Hello there. I thought I would make you aware of an interesting situation we are having in the State of Missouri. It is Senate Bill Numbers 5 & 21 in the 9lst General Assembly, 2001. These bills as signed into law state that we as a police agency cannot release, destroy, or in any way get rid of property. The problem comes from the definition of "seizure" and the use of the word property. It leaves no indication if the type of property referred to is evidence, property seized for forfeiture, or anything. So basically we have to keep everything forever. Do you think this will cause a storage problem for us? Editor: Yes. Latta: Let me expand on that. This is one
of those situations where you need to call out the big guns. Meet with
your chief and confirm that he is aware of the situation. Ask him to request
help from the county and state Police Chief's Association. Contact your
local legislator, tell him it's a stupid law, and that he will look like
a hero if he can author corrective legislation. Contact your state Peace
Officer's Association, and if you have a state Peace Officer Standards
and Training (POST) organization, ask them to get involved. The sooner
you can get that piece of legislation off the books the better you are.
Dialogue between Evidence Custodian David Ellis, West Feliciana Sheriff's Office (LA), and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Ellis: telephone inquiry re: storing photographs Latta: As a follow-up to our telephone conversation
about storing and preserving photographs in the evidence room, I haven't
had any success in locating any information about Polaroid photos, but
I found a very good 11-page technical reference document at the Kodak website
(www.kodak.com). It's listed as document
E-30 entitled "The Storage and Care of Kodak Photographic Materials". If
I find anything specifically related to Polaroid photographs, I'll pass
it on to you.
Dialogue between Nina Sheleman, Gilroy (CA) Police Department, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Sheleman: If you have a moment, could you point me in the direction of where I might find a company that makes "one-way evidence lockers"? I think yours were wood. I'm interesting in the metal lockers. Latta: One resource that has a great deal
of law enforcement history is American Locker. They advertise in our journal
regularly and can be found at http://www.americanlocker.com/.
In addition, you can try Building
Products and Materials by Sweets Network [link updated 10/, which is
a resource used by architects when designing buildings. Visit Sweets for
a complete list of manufacturers, or visit some of the below sites of major
manufacturers:
Dialogue between Evidence Custodian Mary Ann Palmer, O'Fallon (MO) Police Department, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Palmer: As a member of IAPE I receive The Evidence Log which I read diligently when I receive new issues, and also refer to them frequently. Recently I read an article from your web site titled "Respect for the Evidence Bureau" by Joe Millender. He referred to those who take care of the evidence function as Evidence Specialists. First of all, I want to say that I agree that evidence people are not just custodians or clerks and I believe that the training evidence people receive and the professionalism we exhibit, besides all that we do, make us specialists in our field. My title is "Evidence Custodian." The word "custodian" denotes a caretaker or guardian. While that is part of my job, I do much more, i.e., prepare court orders for disposal of evidence, numerous data entries, release property (and all the research that involves), present evidence in court, transport evidence to the lab, prepare property for city auctions, order evidence packaging supplies, teach proper packaging and safety issues during officers' in-service training, and other duties too numerous to mention (and I am the only evidence person in this department). Could you please explain the criterion others and/or Mr. Millender would use that qualifies a person as an Evidence Specialist? I have my own thoughts on this, but would like some feedback from other professionals. My father always taught me that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right, and because I adhere to this philosophy and make the officers do it right when they submit their evidence, I have earned the title (at least among some officers, so I hear) as "the evidence bitch." While I would rather be referred to as the Evidence Specialist, at least they know I am a stickler for things being done right! I have had the privilege of being in one of Mr. Millender's seminars, and also at the 2-day Property and Evidence Management seminar you presented in Colorado about three years ago. Both training seminars benefited me immensely, and I have had the opportunity to put much of what I learned to use. I would appreciate very much if you can supply me with some feedback on what constitutes an evidence specialist. I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your help in this matter. Latta: Sorry for the delay, Mary Ann. I've
been out of town doing c1asses. I fully agree with your conc1usion and
the rationale supporting it. I looked through our database of members and
was astounded by the myriad of names that we have for what "Property Officers"
do. It is interesting to note that among the 1,000+ entries in our membership
database we have over thirty different titles assigned to professionals
who handle property and evidence. The most common titles are Evidence Custodian
(over 500) and Property Officer (over 300). Property and Evidence Specialist,
Evidence Specialist and Property Specialist seem to be popular also, but
with only about a dozen agencies using each one. There is a wide variety
using the term Administrative, including Administrative Assistant, Clerk,
Coordinator, Service Officer, Specialist and Property Officer. Using the
term Evidence, there is Evidence Clerk, Custodian, Specialist, Control
Officer, and Control Specialist. Also used are Property and Evidence Specialist,
Community Services Officer (CSO), Criminal Investigations Division (CID)
Officer, CID Evidence Officer, CID Technician, and Property Detective.
Dialogue between Tim Scapin, Pinellas County (FL) Sheriff s Office Property and Evidence Section, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Scapin: I know that you are very knowledgeable in all aspects of Property and Evidence and I need some help. I have been trying to convince my Section Commander that it would be a good and feasible idea if we had one specialist whose job was to handle all firearms that were submitted to our section. It would be that person's job to input that firearm item into our computer system, keep our gun room in a organized state, and pull the firearms when the case has been adjudicated. I strongly feel that this would greatly cut down on any possible mistakes that could take place in dealing with firearms handling, from submission to destruction. I know that other agencies have employees that deal strictly with firearms. I am asking you for you expert opinion in this matter. What are some of the pros and cons? Is this a feasible idea? I appreciate any input that you may have. Thank You very much!!!!! P.S. I am very excited that you are bringing your training management class to Tampa in April of next year. I WILL attend this class and I look forward to learning a lot. Latta: The first question to deal with is whether the workload of a gun section would support a full time position? If property room personnel are spending 30 to 40 hours a week handling guns, it's not a bad idea to have someone totally responsible for that task. In fact, many large departments (such as yours) routinely assign specific personnel to specialize in guns, narcotics, and currency. This is great for accountability purposes. Remember, however, you always need a backup person trained in order to cover for vacation, illness, etc .. For an absence of a day or so you may just hold the work if you can. For longer absences you should have someone identified as the alternate. Consider using the Two-Person Rule if you have to use a person other than the designated substitute. If the workload actually justifies it, I can't think of a downside.
Placing responsibility on an individual for high profile items (guns, money,
narcotics) is ideal for accountability. Obviously if it's actually a 20
hour job and management is led to believe it's more through inefficiency
or a scam, then it hurts the Department as well as the coworkers who are
aware of it. Let me know what happens either way.
Dialogue between Valerie Ingram,
Grants Office, Richland County (SC) Sheriff s
Ingram: Are there any grant sources that are available for evidence rooms? Our officer, Tena Goff, attended one of your workshops a while back and there was mention of some grant money that might be available. Please email me at your convenience at Valerie Ingram, Grants@RCSD.net. Thank you for your help. Latta: What a great issue to bring up. I hope this draws a lot of input from our members who read this. There's not a lot I can provide, but here are a couple of suggestions. Consider asset forfeiture money as a funding source. It is restricted to law enforcement uses, especially supporting narcotics enforcement, and must not be used to supplant normal or recurring expenditures. It's designed to let you do something new that you couldn't have done through the normal budgetary process. For example, if you have a problem with air quality in the evidence room related to storage of narcotics, it might be reasonable to install a ventilation system you've never had to improve your ability to maintain narcotic evidence safely. If you have a creative Administrative Officer, you might even go for an addition to the station to house a new property room. The only grant funding I am aware of that might apply would be the COPS
series. They are for community policing only, but one of the series reimburses
a significant portion of the cost of hiring civilian personnel to replace
officers who then can be moved to community policing duties. If you are
pushing for civilian Property Officers and want to expand community policing
efforts at the same time, this might be an avenue to pursue.
Dialogue between Technician Ralph Butler, Broome County (NY) Security Division, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Broome: I was wondering if you know of a New York State Association of Property and Evidence Technicians? I tried a web search but have not been able to find one (not that a web search is the end all). If there is one I would like to contact them and join. In the meantime, I am glad to have joined IAPE and to have attended a training class. I am trying to get the Director to send me to another. I am trying to make the best of an old antiquated system with no cohesion. Some evidence is handled by an Assistant Director and some by myself, which leads to many problems. I have started to change some things recently by writing some procedures for our training manual (thanks to your IAPE training). Waiting to hear from you, and thanks again. Latta: To my knowledge there aren't any
state or local property and evidence associations in New York. The only
states that I am sure have state property associations are California,
Arizona, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Colorado. They are all independent
organizations, not chapters of IAPE's international organization. Florida
and Georgia have shown interest in starting a state association, but as
far as I know there's nothing proposed in the northeast. Maybe it's time
you started the ball rolling. If you need advice on some of the requirements
and what might be involved, just let me know.
Dialogue between Property Inventory Clerk Sue Ferguson, Nevada Highway Patrol, and IAPE Executive Director Joe Latta: Ferguson: I'm trying to set up a small existing room for drying. Can you give me the specifics that I need to follow? Latta: The first concern is dealing with bloodborne pathogens is to insure that all employees and managers are complying with OSHA's Occupational Exposure to Bloodbome Pathogens Standard (visit website www.osha.gov for complete text of 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.1 030). A drying room or area should consider the following elements: Security
consistent with storing any other evidence, such as guns, money and narcotics.
Ensure the contaminated evidence is not commingled with any other evidence.
The storage area should be non-porous in ensure that any of the bio-hazardous
material that may come off of the evidence isn't absorbed into the wall
or floor of the storage area. Use some type of epoxy paint to ensure that
the wall is sealed; it also provides a surface that is easily decontaminated.
Maintain a decontamination log for court purposes. Exhaust air to the roof
or use hepa filters to insure that bloodbome pathogens are exhausted from
temporary storage area. Another option would be to purchase a self contained
drying cabinet. A couple of different types are available through evidence
supply vendors. Copyright © 2001 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 2001, Number 3, Page 24 |
can be an effective solution for storage problems. However, I always advise
people looking at additional storage options to first review their policies
and practices. All too often the addition of storage space IS an escape
hatch for those with inefficient space usage and inadequate purging systems.
If you do need additional space, there are several vendors that I know
are available for inquiry on the internet.
