By Joseph Latta, JAPE Executive Director During IAPE's two-day Property and Evidence Class a great deal of time is spent on the importance of "requiring all property to be placed under the control of the property function before the officer ends his or her tour of duty" A second important concept and standard is developing tickler files to management both the internal and external movement of evidence. A ticker file within the property function is nothing more than a file folder that contains a property record when the item(s) are in transition to court, lab, other agency, etc. The tickler file can also be part of the department's computer system and should be reviewed routinely. Items out to court such as narcotics, currency and firearms should be queried daily. Item to the lab may be less frequently. Much can be learned from the Seattle Times news article (Breaking and Entering News, in this Issue) about internal controls and how certain controls could possible avoid this type of incident from occurring in the future. This is not suggesting the department did or didn't have these procedures in place, but more of highlighting the necessity of have these practices in place. If the first principal of turning in the evidence by the end or the shift had been violated, the use of the ticker files is moot. However, if a tickler file is a part of the process, the item out to the lab may have been missed years ago and an inquiry could have been made to the lab about its return long before the described incident. Members of the IAPE board and myself have conducted property room audits across the country and have found that departments all to often sign out evidence to an officer (for court or lab"), and no one in the unit ever inquires about the location of the evidence. Was it really transported to the crime lab or court or was the item pilfered from the system? Five year later no one can remember! Suspense File (Tickler Files) On of the most important tools the Property Room should have is the "tickler file" The "tickler file" is nothing more than a paper or computer file that tracks activities that need to be acted upon in the future. A "tickler file" is method of filing documents, such as evidence sheet / property receipts, in one file or folder in some type order that requires some type of action in the future. The most traditional "tickler files are":
This method of filing will also permit a Property Officer to quickly determine when a certain period of time has elapsed, for example the 90 days needed on Found Property and 60 days for Safekeeping items. Some agencies also use a tickler file to monitor levels of inventory for actions, such as:
Copyright © 2006 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 2006, Number 3, Page 19 |
