Evidence Room News
by Wendy Svaren, Lake Oswego Police Department

Historically, the evidence room has been an area where items were taken for storage and not a lot of attention was paid to how it was stored or who was in charge of storing that evidence. The property officer holds one of the most unglamorous jobs within the law enforcement profession. Yet they can bring down a police department before the PIO has been notified that, "the media is in the lobby."

Managing a property room is not a job that most patrol officers or investigators have had their sights on. They did not attend the academy to learn how to manage an evidence room. In fact, most police academies do not offer courses on property and evidence management. Unfortunately officers assigned to this task were those who just could not seem to make it in other areas of the department.

Managing a property room can be difficult because it has so many different functions. Property must be logged in, packaged properly, marked and stored. Every time that piece of evidence moves the chain-of-custody must be maintained. Evidence officers record who took it and why, where it went, when it was returned and by whom. Finally, each piece of evidence must be properly disposed of when a case is finished. This could mean hundreds of items from just one seizure. Property rooms should also be inventoried periodically to insure that items are not missing and procedures are being followed.

In recent years attitudes have taken a drastic change in regards to property room management. Some of the most notorious criminal trials in American history have been played out on every television set across the country. With this, it has become very apparent that if we don't clean house and pay attention to how evidence is being processed and maintained, we should expect to be the focus of internal investigations, queries from investigative reporters and certain embarrassment to the department. Today's media climate does not favor ignoring mistakes-no matter who is at fault. Problems exposed by the media could cost the police chief and all others involved his or her job.

We can no longer package evidence in the first paper bag we find at the scene. We must log, track, store and inventory evidence in a manner that will hold up under sometimes difficult cross examinations by a defense attorney looking for that one area where we failed to follow procedure.

Why has chain of custody become so important? Because guilty suspects are being set free on procedural errors, police chiefs and officers are loosing their jobs and police departments are being embarrassed in high profile cases where evidence was handled improperly.

If you look at criminal defense in stages you may see what Burbank Police Captain Gordon Bowers describes as the three eras of legal defense:

Defense Era One: The Crime: The initial Defense Era was based upon the need to counter the claims of the prosecution. The primary prosecution question was, "Can we prove the defendant guilty?" The ideal defense outcome was to prove the innocence of the defendant. The strategy in that era was to either prove another person committed the crime, or to throw suspicion on another person so heavily that it created reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.

Defense Era Two: The Search: With the establishment and expansion of the Exclusionary Rule came Defense Era Two. The primary prosecution question became, "Can we prove the evidence was lawfully obtained?" The direction of the defense seemed to change towards that of proving the evidence inadmissible, whether the defendant was guilty or not. The ideal defense outcome was a ruling of evidentiary inadmissibility. This was especially true in narcotics cases, because in those cases such a decision almost always resulted in the dismissal of charges.

Defense Era Three: The Chain: A new era is emerging. Having passed the stage of experimentation, it is moving to the forefront in courtrooms across the country. With the chain-of-custody at stake, the primary prosecution question becomes, "Can the validity and sanctity of the evidence be proven?" The ideal defense outcome is to produce a question in the minds of the jury as to whether the evidence has been, OR COULD HAVE BEEN tampered with or contaminated. Like Defense Era Two, it begs the questions of guilt, but instead of attacking admissibility through search and seizure issues, it attacks the evidence's chain-of-custody.

I would suggest that the only response, which will ensure the admissibility of evidence when its chain-of-custody has been attacked, is to provide proof that the evidence has not been altered or contaminated. A successful and efficient property management system must develop and maintain strict procedures on the handling, security and disposition of property. Your property and evidence personnel should be trained professionals that understand the position and have not been placed there because they could not function in other areas.

Bottom line is PAY ATTENTION to what is going on in your evidence room. Have policy and procedures in place to protect you and your department should a question arise as to how your department handles property and evidence.

The Oregon Association for Property & Evidence Officers, a subchapter of OPOA was organized in an effort to educate the Oregon Law Enforcement community on how to manage an evidence room and avoid mistakes that could cause your department and community embarrassment. Please contact us with any questions or comments.

For more information about the Oregon Association for Property & Evidence Officers, contact OAPEO President Wendy Svaren, Lake Oswego Police Department, P.O. Box 369, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034, or at svaren@ci.oswego.or.us.