For every hundred Property Rooms across the country that are less assertive in their purging programs than they should be for maximum Property Room efficiency, there are probably only a very few that are too aggressive. You will even hear in only slightly facetious usage the phrase, "When in doubt, throw it out."

Obviously the purpose of keeping a strong chain of custody as evidence moves through the Property Room is to assist in successful criminal prosecutions. In order to maintain balance as we keep that goal in mind, we want to share the following excerpts from an Associated Press article headlined "New Orleans rape murder evidence tossed." It was in the March 4, 2003 edition of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA.

A reopened investigation into a 14-year-old rape-murder has been jeopardized by an overzealous cleanup of the New Orleans Police Department's evidence room. The department's cold-case squad had come up with a suspect in the slaying of a 19-year-old girl, who was abducted from her home, taken to an abandoned church and raped, slashed and burned. However, detectives found that nearly all of the evidence had been destroyed, including the murder knife, burned clothes and other items that may have contained critical samples of DNA.

When the problem first surfaced, the Police Superintendent said officers had "incorrectly tossed evidence." The evidence was destroyed about two years ago during a major cleanup of the evidence room, located in the basement of police headquarters. Police have said that, in an undetermined number of cases, (10, according to another article) the sweep went too far, leading to the unintentional disposal of still-useful evidence such as DNA samples.

"If mistakes were made because inadequate policies were in place, it's critically important that this investigation identify weaknesses to ensure it doesn't happen again." After it is completed, the Chief will determine whether any disciplinary action should be taken against officers involved in the housecleaning.