HEADLINR: Missing evidence prompts investigation, procedural changes for York City Police

The York County District Attorney's Office is investigating whether criminal charges could result from missing drug-forfeiture money in the York City Police Department's evidence room.

District Attorney Stan Rebert said Wednesday that his office and York City are involved in an ongoing investigation into "discrepancies" found in the police department's property room at City Hall.

The discrepancies were discovered after the DA's Office requested that city police conduct an internal probe into their evidence procedures in April, Rebert said. 

But Rebert would not comment Wednesday about what prompted his office to call for the internal probe. He also declined to comment about the amount of money in question.

The district attorney said he does not believe the problems with the evidence room will jeopardize the prosecution of any ongoing cases.

Rebert said more details about the missing money could be released at the conclusion of the probe -- possibly in a couple of weeks.

At that time, Rebert said, charges could be filed, depending on the results of the investigation.

York City Police Commissioner Mark Whitman said he was "not at liberty" to discuss the investigation and deferred comment to Rebert's office.

Mayor John Brenner also declined comment about whether any police personnel have been disciplined. But the mayor said that any time there is a personnel issue involving funding it must be dealt with appropriately, and the city will "get to the bottom" of the discrepancies.

"We're taking it seriously," Brenner said.

Union involved: York City Detective Robert Pace, who is president-elect of the city officers' White Rose Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the union is representing the two sergeants involved in the probe.

One was the department's longtime quartermaster, in charge of cataloging and safeguarding evidence. The other sergeant assisted the quartermaster, he said.

The York Dispatch is not releasing their names unless charges are filed against them.

The quartermaster retired this week, although that was planned long before the probe began, Pace said.

She was suspended sometime after the probe began.

The other sergeant is on active duty but no longer has evidence-room duties, Pace said.

Pace defended the two sergeants.

"Knowing both of them, I don't think they would've taken the money," he said.

The problem, Pace said, is that the evidence room is a mess -- a problem the quartermaster tried to address years ago.

"She had been asking for years for help ... about being overworked and the amount of work coming in," he said. "It pretty much fell on deaf ears. We have the documentation to prove that."

Wanted software: The quartermaster asked for updated computer software to better keep track of the evidence, but that didn't happen, according to Pace. Instead, she was given more job duties, he said.

"More and more responsibilities were being pushed on her, and it was too much for one person," Pace said.

Pace said he suspects the missing money is still in the evidence room, somewhere.

"Other things that were 'missing' have been found," he said. "The bottom line is, there's no real way to know where everything is at every single second, because of how the system was (set up) and the record-keeping."

Pace said he does not know how much money is missing. The sergeant who assisted the quartermaster previously offered to pay back some of it, according to Pace.

"He said it was out of a sense of duty, obligation and responsibility," he said. "It's the FOP's position that unless it's proven someone took (the money), you've got to give them the benefit of the doubt."

New procedures: After the discrepancies were detected by the internal review, Rebert said, York City adopted new auditing and oversight procedures to improve accountability in the evidence room.

Pace said a fix is necessary.

"That should be the top priority, so this doesn't happen again," he said.

Brenner said one way the city is changing procedures within the evidence room is by disposing of old and unneeded evidence through an online auction Web site.

"Instead of some of the evidence sitting around up there for decades upon decades, there are some things that can be cleared out," Brenner said.

While some changes to police procedures in the evidence room are already under way and will not be affected by the district attorney's investigation, Brenner said the city will await the results of the probe to see if additional changes are needed.

"We'll see where that takes us," Brenner said.

HEADLINR: Drugs Missing From Boston Warehouse

BOSTON, MA  -- Police Commissioner said the drugs, either stolen or improperly thrown away, include marijuana, cocaine, heroin and OxyContin, The Boston Globe reported. In some cases, OxyContin was replaced with a non-prescription painkiller. The police department, FBI and Suffolk County district attorney have begun a join investigation. 

Investigators found 265 envelopes showed signs of having been opened or had been completely emptied. In 700 other cases, envelopes were missing, either stolen or simply thrown out.