IAPE Property Standards #7 Layout Issues - Part II of II Discussion by Joe Latta This is the conclusion of IAPE Standards
#7, Layout Issues, which was begun in The Evidence Log Volume
2003, No.2. See the IAPE Website at [www.iape.org] for previous IAPE
Standards
articles. The web page for downloading all of the the standards is
Narcotics - Ready for Destruction When a case is adjudicated, the active narcotics need to be removed
from the active shelf or drawer and placed into a location known as Narcotics
Ready for Destruction. This area should be as secure as the area for active
narcotics. Note:
On the left, a designated Found Property location in a high density shelving unit. Money, guns and narcotics still require their special security, but should have a designated Found Property area within those high-security areas. Property for Safekeeping Avoid storing Property for Safekeeping with evidence, as it is similar to Found Property in having some specific needs. Designate a shelf or bin exclusively for Property for Safekeeping. Commingling it with criminal case evidence will create tracking and purging problems. Storing Property for Safekeeping in a single location will allow managers and supervisors to more easily audit the inventory to insure compliance with policy. Money, guns and narcotics still require their special security, but should have a designated Property for Safekeeping area within those high-security areas. Fingerprints Any department that stores fingerprints within the Property Room should always consider maintaining them all in one location such as a file drawer, both for security, purging considerations and easy retrieval. This particular agency filed the case by crime type and then case number. For example, all of the residential burglaries were in a portion of the file in case order. Blood Samples For the safety of employees always attempt to segregate this type ofbi6hazard in one centralized location for easy identification and safe storage. On the right, a designated Blood Sample location in a lateral file drawer. Biohazards - Bloody Clothing For the safety of all personnel and for easy retrieval, always consider
separating biohazard evidence and placing it in a single location. A simple technique is to use a length of butcher paper twice as long as what you want to cover, fold it in half, and punch the hanger hook through the middle of the center crease in the paper. You can staple the edges if desired. Ensure that the area is properly marked with appropriate signage showing biohazards, and keep in mind that this location is only for evidence that is completely dry. Biohazard Ready for Destruction
The same suggestions apply for biohazards that have been authorized for disposal. Set aside a location for these items in order to manage the quantity and destroy in a timely manner, as shown below. Note that the bins are directly above the blood sample shown in the photo to the left, to minimize contact with hazards. With a designated location it is easy to see when the quantity reaches the point that you can schedule a destruction. Urine Samples For the safety of employees, always attempt to segregate this type of biohazard into one centralized location for easy identification and safe storage. Auction Items - Ready for Transfer When a case has been adjudicated and the item has been selected for auction, always remove the item from the active shelf/bin and place in a designated location for auction. File the paperwork separately, so that the item and paperwork could not be pilfered together. Department Supplies & Equipment
Type of layouts / Numbering Properly setting up the layout of a Property Room can substantially reduce labor costs and shorten retrieval times. There are five basic and traditional methods in which property can be stored. The following will describe and analyze the organizational scheme for each method. Stuffit Method / Random Storage The most common method practiced by agencies is referred to as the "stuffit method". This refers to placing an item on the shelf wherever it fits, in a manner where items are stacked one upon the other or one behind another. This creates a scenario where often dozens of items must be moved from the shelf and searched through to locate the correct item.
Storage By Officer / Employee Another option is to store cases on the shelf based upon the seizing officer. For example, Officer Doe has a bin or box with his name where all of his /her evidence resides, with the only exception being items that will not fit. This is one of the least desirable methods as space is designated by person, not by the need for space. If all employees booked the same amount of evidence, this method may have some merit. However some book substantially more evidence than others, creating a situation where some boxes or bins are empty while others are full, based on the officers' assignments, how active they are in the job, or what rank they hold. By Type of Crime This scheme has the same strengths and weaknesses as storing by employees, whereas items are stored by a widely varying category. Even if the space for each crime type is adjusted periodically based on crime trends, this scheme does not take advantage of available space. Size / Sequential Order Property / evidence can virtually come in any size and shape, however most Property Rooms will generally see the same types of evidence on a daily basis. When planning a Property Room shelving scheme the historical types and sizes of evidence need to be reviewed. The first step is to list the types of items that are received on a
daily basis. The following is only a suggested list, but it does reflect
the experiences of hundreds of Property Rooms across the country:
After reviewing the categories of evidence, you must then allocate space for each of those categories. For example, if over the past five years you have received 90 - 100 bikes a year, there is the likelihood that next year you will see similar numbers. However you actual agency data has to be collected to make realistic estimates for planning decisions. It is a very good likelihood that if your department received 100 long guns and 250 hand guns this year, a similar number will be received the following year, unless there is some type of anomaly, such as closing down a firearms dealer with a three-hundred-gun inventory. By Date/Case Number/Control Number Items are stored on the shelf in the specific order chosen such as date, case number or control number. This process allows items from cases that have reached a particular Statute of Limitations to be reviewed and possibly purged more uniformly. All of these systems use an "ordered" approach, which makes finding an item easier if you have the appropriate number. Date order requires an order within each date unless there is a very small number of property items being accepted daily. Case number may need an order within the case for major cases. Having a control number for each item allows the most direct approach to locating the item. Advantages/Disadvantages Random storage refers to placing an item on the shelf wherever it best fits. It is often used in conjunction with a computerized system that tracks storage locations. It often results in a dozen items from the same case being stored in a dozen different locations, which makes it more difficult to retrieve all of the items from a case. Unfortunately, if Property Officer 1 places an item on the shelf in one location, and then inadvertently documents the storage in another location across the room, there is no reasonable place for Property Officer 2 to start looking if he or she later responds to the recorded location and cannot find the item. The biggest disadvantage of this system is that there is no logical location in which to start looking if an item isn't where it is supposed to be. Location Schemes: Addresses / Locations / Shelf ldentifiers The goal of identifying specific storage locations in a Property Room is to enable location and retrieval of an individual item with a minimum expenditure of time and energy. There is no inherent value in naming or labeling every shelf or drawer unless it contributes toward that goal. Unfortunately, the vast majority of law enforcement Property Rooms across the United States and Canada use location schemes and numbering methodologies that generally add to the difficultly in locating and retrieving items, and obfuscate the location of items later determined to be lost or misplaced. Random vs. Sequential Storage Random storage requires that each item be stored in a specific place. It is based upon documenting the exact location of the property, and it is most efficient when the storage locations are very small and individually identified. An extreme implementation of random storage would be an infinite number of numbered locations with one item in each one. Nothing would be in the way of locating an exact item. Since that isn't practical, random storage needs the smallest REASONABLE storage location sizes, to minimize the number of wasted movements in searching. Replacing an item in Random storage is exacting. The location from which it was removed can only be identified from the documentation, since there is no logical order. Also, either the item must be replaced in the very same storage location from which it was removed, or the new location must be immediately documented. Therefore, the accurate
documentation of the initial storage bin, AND THE STORAGE BIN FOR EVERY MOVE THEREAFTER, is absolutely essential. The graphic above shows a Random storage numbering system for three shelving units with six shelves each. Each shelf of each bookcase is a storage location, such as C4. Since shelfC4 is large enough to hold a number of items, it almost always requires a rummaging through the items on the shelf to find the specific item desired. The only option is to have all of the tags visible from the aisle, or have the items in some sort of an order. Sequential storage requires that every item be stored in a specific order. It is easy to find an item if the order is maintained, and easy to replace it. An extreme implementation of sequential storage would be single storage location for the entire property room. Such an implementation would require that everything be in the same size container and have an identifying number, which could be an item control number, a report number in combination with an item number, or even an alphabetical name with a sequential item number. Nothing would get in the way of locating an exact item because you could go directly to the specific number or alphanumeric entry that you wanted. To replace the item, look at the tag and go to the proper place in the sequence. Obviously that isn't practical, so sequential storage needs the largest REASONABLE storage location sizes, to take into consideration the varying sizes, hazards and security needs of specific types of property. So How Does It Work? The graphic below shows what would happen if you were to call each of the three bookcases a storage location. The result would be three storage locations (A, B and C) instead of 18. If Location A were to be used for banker boxes which each contained the contents of a single case, each box would have a case number on the end and could be filed in case number order from the top left to the bottom right. When all of the evidence on anyone case had been released, the box would be removed. 3 Storage Locations: A, B and C
When several were gone, the remaining boxes would be moved left and up so that all of the space would be at the lower right, and the oldest case (box) at the top left. The graphic in the next column depicts ONE location "Bookcase". It further reduces the number of storage locations from three to one. This scenario carries the previous one step further. It still stores items from Top Left to Bottom Right, but it can run all the way across the triple bookcase unit before moving down a shelf. When purging, it is easer to fill in the gaps sliding boxes on a shelf than moving them up, and continuing the shelf as part of one storage unit allows compressing boxes all the way across the unit before moving them up. In addition, there are no computer or rack card changes because the boxes remain in the same storage location no matter how far they are moved toward the top left. 1 Storage Location: A
Expanding the Principle In each of these examples, the very first item stored was placed on the top shelf-left side. The newest item is always on the lowest occupied shelf, at the right end. It doesn't matter whether the containers are boxes, envelopes, videotapes or any other like-sized containers. It also doesn't matter whether you have one shelving unit, or an entire bank of high density mobile shelving. If you call it one storage location, and keep all of the items in sequential order, you accomplish five critical things: 1. You know exactly where any given numbered item will be found.The only thing keeping you from taking advantage of this system is the lack of standardized storage containers. For that, you'll have to wait until Standard 11, Packaging, Handling and Storing. [Or check the website. Ed.] 
Copyright © 2006 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 2003, Number 3, Page 14 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Avoid
storing Found Property with evidence, as Found Property is "quick-turnaround"
by nature. Designate a shelf or bin exclusively for Found Property. Commingling
Found Property with criminal case evidence will create tracking and purging
problems. Storing Found Property in a single location will allow managers
and supervisors to more easily audit the inventory to insure compliance
with policy.
The
storage solution shown below has provided a closet rod in a standard cabinet
for hanging clothing that may contain biohazards. In addition, the paper
sleeve over each hanger offers a method to retain evidence in a more meticulous
manner to protect from cross contamination.
Frequently
the Property Room is selected as the storage location for department supplies.
All recognized standards recommend that the supply function be separated
from the Property Room to insure that evidence is not commingled, which
would create an integrity issue. Assigning the Property Officer to be responsible
for department supplies is perfectly acceptable, however all efforts need
to be made to physically separate the functions. The photo on the right
is a Property Office shelf dedicated to supplies.
The
two photos shown right and below illustrate how an 
employee
looking for one item may have to remove every item from the shelf to locate
the one that is needed. It is a commonly accepted fact that the "stuffit
method" is 15 - 20 times more labor intensive that a well organized chronological
or sequential system. If any item other than the one being retrieved has
to be moved, time and energy is being wasted.
