Ask Joe...Whenever you find yourself pondering over property and evidence room queries, fret not! Simply turn to the knowledgeable and experienced Joe Latta, IAPE's primary instructor and Executive Director. Each month, Joe graciously shares his wisdom by addressing one of your burning questions. Feel free to submit your own inquiry to Joe and tap into his wealth of expertise. Embrace the opportunity to enhance your understanding and streamline your property and evidence management processes. Ask Joe

Dear Joe,

I work for a police department in the northeast part of the country. The town is looking to civilianize my position. Do you know how I can find out if and where other departments use civilians to run their evidence rooms?

Thanks,

Bernard Nocop

Dear Bernard,

This in some cases, is strictly a regional issue. In California finding a sworn officer in the property room is an anomaly as the vast majority are civilians and it has been that way for thirty-five years or more. Last week, I was training in Oregon where only 4 of the 50 plus students were sworn. This is also true for much of the rest of the country and Canada. However, when you get into the northeast the opposite is true in many cases. This is not good or bad, just a fact!  It might be labor union issues and in some cases, distrust of civilians or "this is the way we have always done it". 

Seventy-five percent of our 5,300 IAPE Members come from the civilian ranks. The exceptions to the rule could be in a small department where the property room is a two hour a week responsibility and is an ancillary duty to working patrol or investigations. When you look at federal agencies (State Department, Secret Service, FBI, etc., it is generally a civilian job. 

Generally speaking, sworn officers are generally less interested in a working a property room, as they are more interested in the enforcement side of the equation. Secondly, it is not unusual to pay civilian evidence custodians half the wage of a tenured officer. Think about it... Generally, the only thing we don't have enough of in the property room is TIME. If I, as a police chief, can get 80 hours of coverage in the property room for the same budget dollar, I'm way ahead.  In some cases, Chiefs are not comfortable with civilian guarding their evidence, when in fact, stats show significantly more of the integrity issues have been committed by sworn officers than civilian employees.  If I were a chief and interested in being financially responsible to the community, I would always consider a civilian to operate my property room. A recent visit to the east to a large department is was mentioned there was a waiting list of sworn officer for the property room assignment. The reason –making arrests the prosecutors are not filing charges. 

As a resource, IAPE standards are listed below:

IAPE STANDARDS SECTION 1 

JOB CLASSIFICATION  

Property Room personnel should have a job classification title that reflects the duties and responsibilities performed.    

The Property Room may be staffed by civilian personnel. 

Standard 1.1. Job Classification

Reasoning: Peace officer powers are generally not required to perform the Property Room duties of receiving, storing, and disposing of property and evidence.  The same applies to supervisors or managers of the Property Room. In smaller agencies the duties of the Property Room are frequently an assignment or an additional job duty and may require fewer hours in a week to complete.  

The primary job duties should include, but not be limited to:

• Receive all incoming property and evidence.
• Document property and evidence 
• Storage of property and evidence
• Release of property and evidence 
• Disposal of property and evidence
• Maintain the official Chain of Custody

Staffing the Property Room with civilian personnel should be considered as powers of arrest are not part of the typical Property Room position.

It is important for Property Room personnel to have the physical ability to perform job duties. These abilities will include being able to bend, reach, stretch, climb ladders, use mechanical lifts, and climb in and out of vehicles. To assess these abilities, it is recommended that Property Room personnel be evaluated by an organization trained to assess physical abilities.

Thank you,

Joe Latta

Executive Director

International Association for Property and Evidence

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The IAPE Property and Evidence, Room Accreditation Program, is a comprehensive review of a law enforcement agency's property and evidence systems by recognized experts in the property room management. This rigorous review ensures that your agency's standards, documentation, procedures, and actions align with the recognized IAPE standards and best practices.

For more detailed information about the Property and Evidence Accreditation Program, please contact IAPE Accreditation Program Manager Alexis Grochmal at accreditation@iape.org.

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Headlines

Former Dundy County Sheriff arrested as part of investigation into firearms missing from sheriff's office

December 8th, 2023

DUNDY COUNTY, Neb. — The former Dundy County Sheriff who was recalled from office last month has been arrested on charges related to firearms missing from the sheriff's office. 

The Nebraska State Patrol says Clinton "CJ" Smith, 42, of Benkelman, was arrested Friday for theft by unlawful taking and possession of a stolen firearm. Following his arrest, he was lodged in the Dundy County Jail. According to an affidavit for a search warrant, which was obtained and served on Friday, on Nov. 29, a lieutenant and a sergeant with the Nebraska State Patrol met with Interim Dundy County Sheriff Ryan King and Dundy County Attorney Arlan Wine to discuss firearms that were missing from the sheriff's office.

The affidavit says an inventory was previously conducted on Aug. 7 due to the evidence room getting moved. All firearms were accounted for at that time.

Upon Smith being recalled from office on Nov. 15, the affidavit says that on Nov. 17, King and a Dundy County Deputy Sergeant began an inventory of the evidence room using a list from the Aug. 7 inventory and discovered four Glock handguns were missing.

The affidavit says the keys to the evidence room were then changed, with only King and the sergeant having keys to it.

On Nov. 20, the affidavit says, King phoned Smith to advise him of the missing firearms, to which Smith reportedly stated he had not been in the evidence room since the Aug. 7 inventory, but that he would check a safe in his garage. The affidavit adds Smith told King he may have taken a Glock 34 home to take to the shooting range and was unsure whether he returned it. The affidavit says King told Smith he needed to bring any firearms he had back to the sheriff's office by 4 p.m. MDT Nov. 20 or it would be entered as stolen.

The affidavit says Smith phoned King around 2:15 p.m. and told him he did not locate any in one safe and could not access a second safe, but that he would contact a locksmith.



The four reported handguns were then reported as stolen to the National Crime Information Center.

On Friday, court records say the search warrant was served on Smith's Benkelman home and on his silver 2013 Toyota Tacoma pickup. According to court records, the search located one Glock 34 handgun. No other firearms were located.

Commentary… Sheriff is ousted by a special election .. Sheriff is gone. Question: What is the first thing we must to protect our evidence. Answer: Yes, change the locks and keys.. 

8.6 LOCK AND KEY CHANGES

• 8.6.1. Locks, access codes, and combinations to the Property Room will be changed or deactivated with any resignation, termination, retirement, or transfer of Property Room personnel. 
• 8.6.2. Any time the rekeying or changing of locks is the responsibility of non-Property Room personnel (private vendor, IT, etc.), there will be safeguards in place that ensure these parties cannot gain unauthorized access to the Property Room. 
• 8.6.3. All hard keys will be marked with a unique identifying number and will be documented on a key log.
• 8.6.4. Policy will forbid the duplication of keys without management approval.
• 8.6.5. Policy will require that all keys be verified annually and documented by a supervisor.

Reasoning: Locks, access codes, and combinations to the Property Room must be changed with any resignation, termination, retirement, or transfer of Property Room key-holding personnel.

Any past employee may become part of a new investigation if evidence is reported to be missing and access changes are not completed and documented when an employee leaves the agency. 

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