The Evidence Keepers
In any police department, the folks at the Property Division are a key part of the system. But it’s rare that a chief tips his hat to them.
Submitted by Charlie Beck, Chief, Los Angeles Police Dept.
Here at the LAPD, the Property Division manages the booking, securing, moving, and disposing of evidentiary and non-evidentiary items in a timely manner. Four warehouses, totaling nearly 100,000 square feet, provide housing for evidence, non-evidence, and excess personal property.
Most of our city’s Areas also have property rooms averaging 1,700 square feet. On a daily basis, Property Division processes approximately 500 to 1,000 new evidence items. At one point in time, the number of evidence items held in custody was in the millions. Today, after three years of effort, we have reduced current evidence inventory to fewer than 800,000 items.
The Property Division is comprised primarily of civilian personnel and a cadre of sworn officers. The Unit is believed to have existed since the inception of the Department and was originally maintained by sworn personnel on a 24/7 schedule. Today, the Property Division has trimmed down to an extremely lean group of 67 civilians and 10 sworn employees with reduced hours of operation.
Unique to Property Division is the fact all the evidence passes through this Division, be it historic and notorious, or seemingly quiet and routine. Evidence from infamous homicides such as Elizabeth Short (Black Dahlia), Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls), and Nicole Brown-Simpson to name a few, remain on our shelves.
Disposing of evidence is an unseen monumental task undertaken by any law enforcement agency’s property division. Here in Los Angeles, gone are the days of the live auctions held in the Parker Center back lot, disposing of firearms into the ocean, or pouring alcohol down a sink drain. We now use various recycling methods, disposal techniques, and eco-friendly waste measures when disposing of and destroying evidentiary and non-evidentiary items. Items of tangible value are now sold by an online auction company with 100% of the proceeds deposited into the Police Pension Fund.