Sticking with a primary objective of the International Association for Property and Evidence, this column is to alert members to the possibility that corruption and gross negligence can occur in any state, any county, any city, and any Department.

Here are some recent property and evidence "snippets" from across our great country. Remember that some of these things could happen where you are, so you must be vigilant! In addition to your personal integrity, you must ensure physical security, backed by consistently enforced, written policy that not only provides safeguards, but bolsters your defense against false accusations.

Louisiana

A former Parish sheriff s K-9 deputy assigned to drug interdiction has been sentenced to 71 months in prison and a $10,000 fine for trafficking in stolen cocaine to help cover gambling debts. The Sheriff's Office confirmed that 2.2 pounds of cocaine seized in an earlier drug case had been checked out of evidence for training and was missing from its custody.

Missouri

A retrial was ordered on a murder conviction appeal. Subpoenaed videotapes including one of the crime scene were missing from the Police evidence room but were discovered in the office of a newspaper publisher. He allegedly was loaned them by the County Sheriff, who was loaned them by the former Chief of the Police Department from which the tapes were missing.

North Carolina

The County Sheriff acknowledged this week that more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana worth $5 million had been stolen last year that they had stored not in the department's secure evidence room, but at an undisclosed location elsewhere on the premises because it wouldn't fit in the evidence room. "I am concerned someone was goofball enough to allow it to sit around long enough to have it get stolen," said the Chair of the County Commissioners.

Oklahoma

Two former County jailers appeared in court Thursday on charges of helping a prisoner steal marijuana from an evidence room and then take the drug into the lockup for a party with other inmates. "It was some old evidence that had been there a long time," said the District Attorney.

Someone broke into the County Sheriff's office, but officials are unsure if anything was taken. The steel doors of the sheriff's evidence room were kicked in, exposing evidence from several past and pending cases. It was the second time this year that the sheriff's office has had problems with the evidence room.

Tennessee

A former town Police Chief faces arraignment after being indicted on 16 criminal counts, including theft, evidence tampering and official misconduct. Among the allegations is that he took money and drugs stored in his department's evidence room. The tampered evidence may compromise many cases, reported the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Texas

Instead of handing over all drugs seized during investigations, authorities say, a Trooper with six years experience kept some. Concerns about missing evidence prompted searches in November, the Trooper's resignation in January, his indictment 1astweek on a felony drug charge and his arrest this week, officials said. Authorities allege they found drug evidence in his desk, patrol car and residence that he had seized as evidence but had failed to turn in to the property custodian. "There's no indication that he was using or selling the drugs," the D .A. said. "It was as if he had a personal collection."

Virginia

A sheriff who retired, and a Lieutenant and a Sergeant who were fired by his successor, all pleaded no contest to misdemeanor embezzlement charges. The three former officers confiscated / coins they believed were stolen during a traffic stop and placed them in the sheriff s evidence locker. Ten years later they allegedly sold them for $600 and split the money.

Wisconsin

A Police Investigator received a five-day suspension because of a pellet gun, a car stereo, an equalizer, binoculars, a set of wire cutters and an identification card from a 1977 internal theft case at Sears that were all found in his temporary evidence locker during a recent audit of all evidence lockers. The case property report showed that the Investigator had returned all of the evidence to Sears.