The property room: important considerations

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, July, 2004 by Barney Kinman

Law enforcement agencies all strive to properly handle evidence in their custody. Departments recognize the trouble that can arise when property rooms mishandle such items--public embarrassment, financial liability, possible criminal charges, and the inadmissibility of important evidence serve as examples. Also, officers can lose trust in the evidence room, which can lead to investigators storing evidence elsewhere, such as in the trunks of their vehicles. This practice, of course, also presents problems.

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Certainly, any agency recognizes the property room's function and the important role it plays in support of the department's mission. (1) However, law enforcement personnel should go beyond simply exchanging pleasantries with the property room staff and consider a thorough examination of the evidence room, evaluating issues, such as location, security, storage, disposal, and staffing. (2) Such an analysis can ensure that the property room serves as the important asset that departments desire it to be.

Location and Security

Agencies carefully should consider where they locate their evidence rooms. Many choose the basement of their facility--not necessarily a wrong choice, but one that organizations should make only after thoroughly analyzing the potential problems this option can present. For example, much of the mechanical equipment typically located in basements--gas, plumbing, sewage, and sprinkler systems serve as examples--at some point may damage property contained in the evidence room. Also, when mechanical components are located in the property room itself, they can take up valuable storage space and also will need regular inspection and maintenance, requiring access by a variety of individuals.

Whatever location an agency chooses, the evidence room must be secure. Organizations should consider what offices border the property room. Potentially, only drywall may separate the department's evidence room from unauthorized personnel (perhaps from outside the department). An alarm system with codes known only to the property room staff proves essential. Agencies also should install motion detectors in the areas where they store guns, drugs, and money.

Employees must follow strict procedures when granting access to the facility. Authorized personnel should escort everyone, including sworn officers from the department, who requires access to the restricted area of the property room. One way agencies can limit such visitors is to use the evidence room only for its intended purpose and not to combine it with other uses (such as quartermaster storage). Staff should maintain a log book that documents all visitors and their reasons for access.

Evidence room visitors often include defense attorneys. Agencies should designate a separate area, away from the front counter, for use by lawyers who need to examine evidence in preparation for trial. Preferably, a prosecutor, rather than evidence room staff, will carry the burden of accompanying the individual.

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When visited by citizens, department staff always should escort them to and from the property room; they never should be unaccompanied while in the department. Frequently, such individuals will come to retrieve firearms seized from them. Before issuing the weapon, property room staff should perform a criminal history check to verify the person's legal entitlement to the firearm. Further, personnel only should release the ammunition after the citizen secures the firearm outside the building.

Storage and Disposal

When storing evidence, ideally, agencies should assign a bar code to items and track them by computer in addition to manual written records. Such records should describe the items in detail. For instance, one agency reported an incident where an attorney discovered that two employees miscounted the number of pills serving as evidence in an investigation. Fortunately, the booking officer followed agency regulations and not only recorded the number of pills but also their weight; the accurate weight of the pills prevented potential damage to the case.

Agencies have many other considerations when storing evidence. For example, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) requires accredited departments to adhere to specific guidelines, such as secluding computer hard drives to prevent damage by magnets contained in such items as stereo speakers and separating weapons, drugs, and money (3) (if possible, agencies should deposit evidence money into a bank account; money out of the property room is one less potential liability).

Some items should be prohibited from the property room. For example, agencies should not store perishable food items unless absolutely essential to a criminal case, such as poisoned food pertaining to a homicide investigation (of course, departments must ensure that they use an evidence-only refrigerator in the secure area for such situations). Evidence room personnel also never should accept unopened containers (a safe seized during a narcotics investigation serves as a common example) unless they can open it or somehow otherwise verify its contents. One agency disposed of a safe they had stored for several years through many administrations and personnel changes before finding that it contained a large amount of dynamite. Subsequently, the department decided to check every similar item in its possession.