NUMBER: 4400
EFFECTIVE DATE: 06-18-2012 REVIEW DATE: 06-2014
AMENDS/SUPERSEDES: All Previous
APPROVED: Billy R. Myrick
Billy R. Myrick, Chief of Police
BEST PRACTICE STANDARDS:
12.01.1, 12.03.1, 12.04.1, 12.05.1, 12.06.1, 12.07.1, 12.08.1NOTE: This General Order is for internal use only and does not enhance an officer’s civil or criminal liability in any way. It should not be construed as the creation of a higher standard of safety or care in an evidentiary sense, with respect to third party claims. Violations of this General Order, if proven, can only form the basis of a complaint by this Department and only in a non-judicial, administrative setting.
INDEX WORDS:
Abandoned property Procedures
Chain of evidence Property release
Disposal Property room
Disposition Physical evidence
Field release Recovered property
Found property Required Forms
Impounding officer
I.
PURPOSEIn the course of law enforcement business, it becomes necessary to handle property associated with crime scenes and non-law enforcement personnel. In order to ensure the integrity of our processes, this policy shall establish the guidelines for the handling, packaging and disposition of such property.
II.
POLICYAll property obtained by any means, by Department personnel, will be maintained and disposed of, as directed by departmental procedure and applicable law. These procedures, related to the storage and maintenance of property, have been developed to ensure that evidence in custody of this Department can be properly secured, stored, readily retrieved and to affirm that any changes in custody have been properly documented.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4401
III. DEFINITIONS
A. Abandoned Property – Property that is unwanted by the owner and has been left discarded.
B. Chain of Evidence – The continuity of the custody of physical evidence – from time of original collection to final disposal, which may be introduced into a judicial proceeding.
C. Contraband- Anything illegal in itself to possess.
D. Evidence Custodian – A member of this department who is responsible for receiving, storing, maintaining, releasing and accounting for all evidence/property in compliance with established agency policy. In this Department, the designated Evidence Custodian shall be the C.I.D. Sergeant.
1. The C.I.D. Sergeant may select one other sworn member of the Department as an alternate or Property Unit Technician who can assist in custodial efforts.
E. Found Property – Property that is deemed abandoned on public streets, rights-of-way, or private property. This property is usually recovered by the law enforcement agency or given/provided to the law enforcement agency by citizens.
F. Impounding Officer – The member of this department who initially receives the property or evidence and initiates the chain of custody. The member may be a patrol officer, investigator, etc.
G. Large Item Storage Area – A secure area used to store property and evidence that is too large to be held in the property room.
H. Physical Evidence – Refers to any tangible article, small or large, which tends to prove or disprove a point in question. It may be used to reconstruct the crime, identify participants or confirm or discredit an alibi.
I. Property Room – The area of department facilities utilized to store property and evidence in the care and custody of the Department.
J. Property Supervisor – The C.I.D. Sergeant
K. Recovered Property – Property found or turned into the police department that may be related to an offense or reported incident.
L. Safekeeping – Process in which property is obtained by officers that has no evidentiary value and is being held for the convenience of an identified owner and can be released back to that owner without an investigation or any other police action.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4402
PROCEDURES
A. Property Receipt and Control
1. All in-custody and evidentiary property obtained by employees into agency control shall be:
a. Logged into agency records as soon as possible, but in all cases, before the officer ends that tour of duty;
b. Placed under the control of the Property Section before the impounding officer ends his tour of duty. Employees shall not personally retain property or evidence, except as part of an authorized chain of custody.
c. Identified through the proper form(s) as to the circumstances by which the property came into agency possession;
d. Accurately described and quantified; and e. Properly labeled and packaged for storage.
B. Before placing any item of property into agency control, the impounding officer shall attempt to identify and notify the owner or custodian of the item for release in the field, unless the item is needed or being held as evidence or the nature of the property prohibits it release.
C. In all instances, the employee (patrol, detective, etc.) who seizes or takes initial custody of the property is responsible for ensuring that each item is properly packaged, marked and inventoried on the appropriate departmental forms and that the items are delivered to the evidence lockers or large item storage area. Items that are not properly packaged, marked, and inventoried, will not be accepted by evidence custodian.
D. The Evidence Custodian will maintain a Right of Refusal plan. Items that are impounded into property will be reviewed by an Evidence Custodian to ensure proper packaging and that the item is accounted for on the accompanying evidence tag. If the item cannot be accounted for or the item is improperly packaged, the impounding officer will be notified in writing to report to the Evidence Custodian to make the correction. If the impounding officer does not respond within three (3) days, a copy of the notification will be forwarded to the officer's immediate supervisor.
IV. REQUIRED FORMS
A. Eastland Police Department Evidence Transmittal Form.
1. The Evidence Transmittal Form shall be completed for all items confiscated or retained by the Department. The completed form in its entirety is to be submitted, along with the item(s) of evidence, in an evidence locker or given directly to the Evidence Custodian for storage in the Property/Evidence Room. The only exception is when the item is too large for storage in the property room or because of its nature can not safely be stored in the police building, which will be determined on a case- by-case basis.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4403
V. PROPERTY RELEASE AUTHORIZATION
A. The release of property/evidence will be decided by the Evidence Custodian to make the determination that an article is ready to be released from police department custody either through disposal, release, auction, etc. A Property Release Authorization Form will be completed and signed by the employee authorizing the release.
VI. THE PROPERTY ROOM A. Security
1. Only the Evidence Custodian and members of this Department authorized by the Chief of Police may enter the Property/Evidence Room. Persons designated by the Chief of Police to assist in specific inspections or inventories must be accompanied by the Evidence Custodian at all times while in the Property Room.
2. Maintenance and construction personnel may enter only with approval of the Chief of Police or his designee. These persons must be accompanied by a Property Unit Technician at all times while in the Property Room.
3. A Property Room Access Log will be kept by the Property Unit, which identifies each person entering the Property Office and Property Room, the date and time that they entered, reason for entering, and the date and time that they left the secure area.
4. Areas have been designated for impounding officers to prepare property/evidence for storage and to complete necessary paperwork.
5. Any employee who enters the Property Room without appropriate authorization is subject to disciplinary action. Written notification of a violation of this order shall be sent, through the Chain of Command, to the employee’s immediate supervisor by the Evidence Custodian, with a copy sent to the Chief of Police.
6. Evidence Custodians may escort citizens into the large item storage area for the purpose of identifying items stored there (such as bicycles).
B. Inspections/Inventories
1. On a semi-annual basis the Property Supervisor shall make a documented inspection of the property room, temporary storage areas, the large item storage area, and Property/Evidence procedures to ensure appropriate compliance with departmental policies and procedures. The supervisor will inspect the items and records of a minimum fifty (50) items. The results of the inspection shall be forwarded to the Chief of Police.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4404 2. Unannounced inspections of all property/evidence storage facilities shall be
conducted by Internal Affairs personnel as directed by the Chief of Police.
A summary of the inspection, which outlines specific areas inspected, and any problems encountered will be forwarded to the Chief of Police in the form of a memorandum. The summary should provide suggestions for correcting problem areas, when appropriate.
3. An inventory of property/evidence shall be conducted on an annual basis, or anytime an Evidence Custodian is transferred or replaced. The inventory shall be conducted jointly by the newly appointed personnel and personnel assigned to the Internal Affairs process.
a. The inventory should be conducted by locating the intake paperwork for all the Guns, Drugs, and Money, then locating additional items in the property room. A sample of five (5%) percent or fifty (50) items, whichever is less, of the additional items in the Property Room will be inventoried.
b. The audit of the other items should be done in two parts. The first part is done by randomly selecting the paperwork for half of the items and locating them in the property room. The second part would consist of randomly selecting the other half of items from the property room and locating the item’s paperwork to test the record keeping system.
C. Storage of Evidence Requiring Added Security / Special Handling
1. Evidence requiring added security, to include money, firearms and narcotics shall be stored in a separate area within the Property Room.
2. Items that are considered bio-hazard materials must be properly packaged before being stored in the Property Room. These items must be marked with bio-hazard labels (provided) and stored in a designated area.
VII. DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY/EVIDENCE A. Methods of Disposal
1. Property Release
2. Destruction
3. Auction (Purchasing Form) 4. Donation to Charity
5. Assumption for Departmental Use
6. Assumption for Other City of Eastland Use
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4405
B. Documentation of Disposal
1. Regardless of the method of disposal, the Evidence Transmittal Form for each item removed from inventory will be marked to indicate the date of disposal, method of disposal, the individual taking custody of the item and the person authorizing the disposal.
2. The release must be signed by the member of the department releasing custody and the individual agency taking custody.
3. In the case of destruction of property, the release must be signed by the member of the department authorizing the destruction and the department member participating or assisting the destruction.
C. Control of Property Disposal
1. The timely and appropriate disposition of evidence is extremely important to the efficient management of evidence, the integrity of evidence security and the effectiveness of prosecutorial efforts. The Evidence Custodian will conduct on-going quarterly reviews of property and evidence to determine if the items in custody may be legally disposed of.
2. With supervisory approval, the Evidence Custodian shall conduct on-going disposal (destruction, auction, etc.) of all items stored in the Property Room for a period of time in accordance with applicable state laws, if the items are not being held as evidence.
3. Ongoing immediate disposal of property is authorized, in accordance with current state law for those items where common sense and good judgment indicate no reasonable reason to retain the articles. (Ex: rocks, beer cans, tobacco products, etc.) The disposal of such items shall be documented.
4. The evaluation for disposal will be conducted through computer records.
Investigators will be periodically contacted by property personnel to determine the status of specific items of property being held.
5. Items identified for destruction will be pulled from the normal storage areas and placed into an area designated for disposal.
6. Property Release Authorization – Upon the determination by an impounding officer or the assigned Investigator that an item of property/evidence no longer needs to be held in police custody, that officer shall immediately notify an Evidence Custodian that the item can be released or disposed of in the appropriate manner. Notification to the Evidence Custodian shall be accomplished through the Property Release Authorization form. The officer/employee authorizing release shall notify the owner of the property (if known) to make arrangements with the Evidence Custodian to pick up the item(s).
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4406
VIII. FOUND PROPERTY
A. The impounding officer shall attempt to identify and notify the owner to take possession of the property unless the property is contraband. An Eastland Police Department Property Release Form must be signed by the owner (or person) taking possession of the property if released on scene.
B. If the owner cannot be contacted for release of the property in the field, the property shall be properly packaged and submitted as found property for storage.
C. The Evidence Custodian shall forward a Property Disposition Letter, (certified mail) to the owner’s last known address (if known), indicating that the property is in police custody and should be claimed within 90 days from the date of notice.
D. Property that has no rightful owner and has been held for 30 days shall be disposed of in accordance with current state law and city ordinance.
IX. RECOVERED PROPERTY
A. Authority to confiscate property believed stolen is found in the Code of Criminal Procedures, Article 18.16 (Preventing the Consequences of Theft).
Under this article, “All persons have the right to prevent the consequences of theft by seizing any personal property which has been stolen and bringing it, with the supposed offender, if he can be taken, before a Magistrate for examination, or delivering the same to a Peace Officer for that purpose. To justify such seizure, there must, however, be reasonable grounds to suppose the property to be stolen, and the seizure must be openly made and the proceedings had without delay.”
B. Property recovered as stolen, or which meets the above criteria, will be evaluated to determine whether it constitutes evidence and whether prosecution of a known offender is possible. This determination will be made by the impounding officer or authorized supervisor.
C. Stolen property that is not being held for evidentiary purposes will be released when:
1. The officer authorizing the release advises the owner to contact the Property Unit to make an appointment to take custody of the item(s).
2. The Investigator authorizing release completes a Property Disposition and Release Authorization form and forwards it to a Property Unit Technician.
D. In cases where the owner can not be determined and the property is not being used for evidence, it shall be treated as abandoned and, after holding for 30 days, will be disposed in accordance with current state law, city ordinance or pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedures.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4407
X. EVIDENCE
A. All property seized and held as evidence will be retained in the custody of the police department until the case is disposed of and all appeals exhausted.
B. Under absolutely no circumstances shall property or evidence be retained by officers in their desks, vehicles or lockers.
C. The Evidence Custodian will routinely audit evidence in department custody, and will identify property which may no longer need to be retained. The Evidence Custodian will bring this property to the attention of the investigating officer or his supervisor. The officer or the supervisor will decide if the evidence/property should be retained or may be released from custody.
1. When it is deemed appropriate to release evidence, the rightful owner, known, shall be notified by the officer authorizing release.
2. The authorizing officer/investigator shall complete a Property Disposition Form and forward it to the Property Supervisor.
3. If the property is of value and no rightful owner can be determined, the item(s) shall be treated as abandoned property.
D. Alcoholic Beverages
1. Alcoholic beverages which have evidentiary value must be placed into evidence.
Alcoholic beverages shall not be disposed of in situations where charges will be filed, regardless of the level of offense. Limited storage space makes it impossible to keep every can or bottle of alcohol seized. As a result, the guidelines below will dictate how to take alcoholic beverages into evidence.
a. In cases relating to Minor in Possession, Public Intoxication, Sale of Alcohol to Minors, officers shall:
1. Retain only one container for evidence until final case disposition. Place one unopened can or bottle in a paper bag or 9x12 envelopes.
2. Submit the remainder of the 6-pack, 12-pack, etc. and the Property Unit will dispose of it in compliance with TABC regulations.
3. Submit one sample for each suspect, or type of alcohol and submit, with the samples, a photograph of the entire amount seized.
2. Alcoholic beverages related to DWI charges should be left in the suspect’s vehicle (if the driver is over the age of 21) and listed on the case report unless the DWI is related to a felony assault or homicide. In these situations, officers
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4408 should document the presence of the alcoholic beverage/empty containers and may use individual/supervisory discretion regarding the seizure of such evidence.
3. In serious cases, evidence in need of further processing (fingerprints, DNA, etc.) should be collected and placed into evidence.
4. Very large quantities of alcoholic beverages possessed or transported in violation of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code may be seized.
5. Empty bottles or cans without evidentiary value other than as evidence of alcohol-related offenses will not be accepted.
E. Hazardous Materials
1. Items that may have contaminants from deceased persons, bodily fluids, or any other matter, if improperly handled may be damaging to one’s health or well being will be packaged separately. These packages should be
marked as “bio-hazard.”
2. Fireworks, explosives, or any type of incendiary devices will not be placed into property/evidence. These items will be released to designated fire personnel.
XI. CONTRABAND AND WEAPONS
A. Items Requiring Special Handling by Officers
1. Firearms/Ammunition- all firearms will be unloaded before impounding.
a. When a weapon is seized in the field, if the officer is
uncomfortable unloading the firearm, the officer will call upon a supervisor prior to attempting to unload the weapon.
b. If a weapon is otherwise required to be unloaded at the station, the officer will unload the weapon outside of the station using the
bullet trap.
2. To ensure all weapons are unloaded the following precautionary measures
will be utilized:
a. A safety lock or flex tie will be placed through the open cylinder or
ejection port of all firearms.
b. Magazines will be removed from all auto/semi-auto firearms.
c. Bolt or lever actions will be left open on all long guns.
d. All ammunition will be secured in a separate bag.
3. A “stolen” NCIC/TCIC computer search will be conducted for all seized firearms. The results of the search, along with the serial number of the firearm will be documented in the incident report.
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4409
General Order 4400 – Property & Evidence 4409