Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune, North Port Edition 
January 14,2006 
By Erin Bryce 
Rats snack on police evidence in North Port

Rats inside the North Port Police Department got more than the cheese. Craw ling through vents into a holding cell deep inside the department, rats chewed through some of the more than 30,000 bags of evidence containing various items, including shoes, pipes and drugs. 

It has been more than a month since the discovery, and detectives are still sifting through the damage to assess what effect it will have on police evidence, said Capt. Robert Estrada. Estrada said he does not know how much evidence was digested and could not elaborate on what kinds of evidence was eaten. "It's a potential for a problem," Estrada said. "How long have they been there? Who knows?" 

The property and evidence room is highly restricted, with precautions taken to ensure evidence is not tainted. But the rats didn't get the message. They likely crawled through the vents," said Assistant City Manager Henry Jenkins. 

Rats have been a problem for years at the North Port City Hall, built in 1975. Jenkins recalled several rat bites on a candy bar that he had in his office while he was interim city manager. Employees in the finance office often heard the scuttling of the rodents' feet at night. 

More than once, the city called in exterminators, who would set out spring -loaded traps and sticky paper. At one time, the city even considered fumigating the building under a tent, Jenkins said. 

Estrada said the department first noticed in December that some of the evidence had holes chewed through the plastic bags. One by one, police are examining each bag. 

But prosecutors say the damage might not be as bad as people would think. "A lot of what they have custody of may not be that important at this stage," said Dennis Nales, chief  assistant state attorney. "It's not the gravest of situations." Much of the evidence the department is holding onto has already been used in court, he said. 

The department is required by law to keep it while the appeal processes takes place. And a lot of the evidence has already been examined by a lab technician, he said. Prosecutors can use lab technicians to give testimony if the evidence is damaged. "Once the labs see it and analyze it, then most of the evidence has already been analyzed and done," Nales said. 

Jenkins said the problem is temporary for the police department. City Hall finished moving into its new building off City Center Boulevard this week. The police department is scheduled to move Feb. 21. In the meantime, the police department is already starting to cart bins of evidence into its new building. But before they move a bin, police carefully sift through its contents, Estrada said. "We don't want to take the rats with us," he said.

Contributed by Tim Kiley.