Only two issues of the Evidence Log were produced in 1996.  This is the original article in the series: I've Got Something You Don't have!

Property Rooms across the country and probably around the world have been repositories for some of the most unique junk known to mankind.  Almost without exception, the police mindset has been, "Keep it, you might need it!"

Some law enforcement agencies seem to have developed the belief that the older a piece of property is, the more valuable it must be.  Even when property is well past the stage of ever being needed as evidence, the need to hoard it still seems to flourish.  This is in spite of the well established fact that only about one percent of collected property and evidence ever reaches the confines of our judicial system.  To put it bluntly, the effort spent on 99% of the property we seize is wasted as far as producing evidence for the judicial system.

You are challenged in this column, a new Evidence Log feature, to at least get a little recognition for that really unique item you had to book in as evidence.  That's right!  What have you had in your property room that nobody else has had?

For the past 12 years I have been teaching property and evidence management classes coast to coast and border to border for several different organizations and institutions.  Without exception, I query each class as to what the participants have had in their property room that they feel could be unique in the nation.  In the rare instance in which a class member has that "one of a kind" treasure secreted in the depths of his or her property room, I recognize them with the I've Got Something You Don't Have Award.  In addition, one of the generous vendors supporting property and evidence education provides the winner with a coupon redeemable for a gift (frequently a case of firearms storage boxes).  Such a deal!  Who says you can't get something for nothing?

The discussion always prompts participants to share their rare artifacts with the class.  Unfortunately, there are few items that haven't already been stored by other departments.  Some of the items that are routinely shared are mummified bodies, various body parts or bones, human skulls, ashes (human remains), dog food, moldy bologna, headstones, ad infinitum.  If you want to compete for your very own I've Got Something You Don't Have Award, be aware that you will be in the grand company of the following previous winners:

• One winner came to us from Alaska, where the local officers recovered hundreds of pounds of whale blubber.  How do you store pounds of whale blubber?  I know that almost every agency would be hard pressed to find freezer storage space for a couple of  hundred pounds of whale blubber.  Does that provide motivation for finding an owner and releasing property quickly, or what?

• A "winning" coroner in the midwest performed an autopsy on an "outlaw biker" and thought the tattoos may assist in identification of the decedent.  Instead of just photographing the identifiable tattoos, he systematically pealed off the tattooed skin, rolled it in wax paper, and submitted it to the local sheriff s property room for freezer storage.

• Don't overlook the winning sheriff s department in Wyoming with freezer racks of recovered vials of stolen bull semen (frequently worth tens of thousands of dollars each!).

• Recently I had the rare opportunity to present the I've Got Something You Don't Have Award to a member of my own property room staff.  I live and work in "Beautiful Downtown Burbank," California, the media center of the world, hosting home offices or major facilities of Disney, Warner, NBC, Fox, etc., so it is not unusual for studio related equipment or paraphernalia to be stolen and recovered.  Enter a recent recovery of allegedly stolen costumes and memorabilia, which was entered as evidence at our facility.  You may say, "Cut to the chase.  What do you have?" The Award was presented for Batman's hood, Catwoman's face, the Riddler's cane, the hats of the Joker and the Penguin, and Superman's spaceship.  Gotcha!

Let's let others share in the laughs, challenges and stresses of the property officers of the world!