Today it seems that every police station has one very similar problem – too much evidence and not enough room to store it!

The challenges surrounding this topic cause heartburn for almost every Chief of Police nationwide. Evidence and your evidence room are a liability. It has been said that only 1% of evidence ever makes it to court – but retention laws require all various lengths for which the police station is responsible to keep & maintain the evidence.

Not knowing what you have, where it is located or that your evidence wasn’t compromised or stolen are real topics in law enforcement backrooms, courts & criminal cases. You see…. you only hear about it in the NEWS when a bad incident occurs. Look at these recent headlines:

Louisiana – $206,000 2009, Under Investigation

Arizona – $600,000 Cash Stolen 2009, 4 years in Prison

California – Officer Steals 140 kilos of Cocaine 5 years and 8 months in Prison 2009

Texas – Vendors Steal (35 firearms) while working on site

Does your property & evidence room look like this?

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If so, you may want to look at ways to improve your evidence storage by moving to better types of evidence packaging, identification systems and different storage options. One such option has become very common in the evidence community – high density mobile storage systems. In fact, if you were to attend one of the IAPE national training seminars you would find that much of the class is focused on the organization and storage of your evidence.

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Getting organized with the proper storage can have a positive impact on the communities you serve by eliminating the opportunity of negative exposure for lost, tampered or stolen evidence.

To learn more about Property & Evidence best practices visit IAPE website and get your property and evidence staff educated thru their in person or online programs. And, if you are looking for great ideas on how to get better organized thru proper storage equipment check out this YouTube Video

Jason Freeman – Public Safety Specialist