Judith Healy 
Drug Enforcement Agency 
Alexandria, VA 

COMMENT: 
Do you have standards that specifically address the ventilation in drug and non drug evidence rooms (e.g. dedicated ventilation under negative pressure so that nothing escapes from the room ... 20 air changes per hour, etc.)? I am looking for a specific standard for our facilities person to use in construction. They don't believe that ventilation is needed for these rooms! 

RESPONSE: 
Judith - There are no written standards other that what IAPE has suggested. Our standard (came from a mechanical engineer) who suggested 7-10 changes per hour. Twenty (20) changes per hour would be great as it would probably guarantee the odors being removed. There are some commercial air filtering systems - visit our website www.iape.org (advertisers). There have been a number of property rooms across the country that have been closed or had to be completely decontaminated due to mold. It is an absolute necessity in a new or remodeled facility. I have also seen worker compensations claims related to quality of air in property. 

Michelle Wharton 
EI Cajon Police Department 
El Cajon, CA

COMMENT: 
Do you have any contacts that will dispose of gas cylinders, aerosols, gasoline, etc.? Thank you! 

RESPONSE: 
Michelle - this is a first - and no I don't! Have you checked with the fire department? Consider contacting the vendors that sell the gas cylinders - that may be an option. 

Rebecca McGregor 
Tukwila Police Department 
Tukwila, WA

COMMENT: 
Even if pictures are taken and processed according to departmental policies and procedures, should Officers be using their personal digital cameras to take photos, or should they be using departmental equipment? 

RESPONSE: 
Rebecca - interesting question. With today's ever changing technology we have created some interesting challenges. I really like the ability of law enforcement to take photos at crime scene as quickly as possible to document the incident. Some questions: Are the officers using their own because there is only one camera available for all officers on duty or are they using them because they like theirs better? 

My biggest problem with officers using their own is that it becomes almost impossible to ensure that the images aren't being retained for personal use, diary, showing friends or for personal gain. Can you imagine an officer with his own personal camera taking a photo in a case such as the Lacy Peterson Case, OJ Simpson case, etc. and later selling it to the press? Wow! I guess I have some problems with the process if it's not mandated by policy and enforceable that the images shall be stored / retained by the department only! 

Cathy Nevara 
Oswego Police Department 
Oswego, IL 

COMMENT: 
I was wondering if you have any plans to create a message board for IAPE 
members. 

RESPONSE: 
Cathy - We will discuss with the IAPE Board and our webmaster. 

Susan Harrison 
Loudon County Sheriff's 
Office Lenoir City, TN

COMMENT: 
I attended your class in Pigeon Forge and was hoping for some guidance on a matter. I have some tapes that are received daily from the surveillance system of the jail and building. We keep these tapes for 120 days and then rotate them back into the system. We now have some that we feel have been taped over enough that they should be destroyed. I do not have all of my policy written as far as tapes are concerned. Should I have a judge sign off on this destruction? Since it is technically not evidence or will not be used in the future as evidence can they be destroyed if it states this as a procedure in our policy? 

RESPONSE: 
Susan - we really like staying aware from giving advice in situations like this when there may be some legal issues that we aren't aware of. I would consult with your county attorney and ask for a written legal opinion. I know in the department I worked at when the tapes wore out we just tossed them. We didn't consider them evidence. However if they had data on them that documented a crime or jail incident that needed to be retained we would actually book them into the property room as evidence and then dispose in accordance with our polices with evidence. 

Jim Hunter 
Tulsa Police Department 
Tulsa, OK 

COMMENT: 
Do you have any data on who does the research to determine if the case is adjudicated and the evidence/property can be purged? Our detectives do the research right now and I was wondering if that is how it is done in most agencies. If you do not have that data then I would submit it as a poll question. The options would be detectives, detective supervisors, property room personnel, or any others that you think may apply. 

RESPONSE: 
The answers are generally all over the place. Regardless of who does the research - the detective or officer needs to make the final decision. One advantage of property doing the research is that they have a motive for getting the evidence moving. However if property does the research, your staffing may need to increase 30 - 50% or more due to the tremendous amount of time it takes in getting the necessary info back from courts, prosecutors, probation, etc. One relatively large department here in California had 5 people working in property; two of whom spent their entire 40 hour weeks doing the research (nothing else) and they were way behind in the purging process. In some cities the info is relative easy to track down while other departments require numerous phones, emails, personal visits, databases, etc. The availability and ease of retrieval makes a big difference.