Lt. Floyd Harrell

EVIDENCE, PROPERTY, & SUPPLY

Responsible for the proper handling and storage of all property and inventory of the Department. This includes all types of evidence, such as physical items from crime scenes, seized or confiscated items such as drugs, guns, or other valuables, lost or recovered property.

Annually, the Department processes and stores more than 10,000 new pieces of evidence and property for safekeeping. This requires 8-hours a day and 7-days a week of processing time.

The safeguarding of property is critical. Drugs, money, jewelry and other valuable items have significant value and it must be protected from loss or theft. The Department owns valuable equipment as part of its inventory and these items must be accounted for and ready for operational use in the field.

Once it has been determined or believed that a crime has been committed, the chain of custody of evidence must be adhered to in order for some items to be admitted into court as part of a trial. Any item can become evidence, for example, a car, a house, a yard, a piece of clothing, a knife, a gun, your body, visible injuries, etc.

The best advise is "DO NOT TOUCH, MOVE, OR WASH ANYTHING." If you are in doubt, wait for law enforcement instructions on what to do.

1. After final disposition in the court, a court order must be obtained in some cases advising what items can be returned.
2. For items reported lost or stolen, you can secure the case number and log number from your copy of the incident report and contact the investigating officer or evidence custodian periodically to see if the items have been recovered. If so, arrangements can be made at that time to have the items returned to you.