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Law and Justice Committee
Part 9
IX. EVIDENCE LOCKERS
BACKGROUND
The Grand Jury visited the Sheriff's evidence room, the District Attorney's evidence room, the Hollister Police Department evidence room, and the Superior Court evidence room.
METHOD OF REVIEW
Interviews
Visits to evidence rooms
OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS
A. San Benito County District Attorney's Evidence Locker
We discussed the collection procedures for evidence with both the District Attorney and his investigators. We found that a log is kept for each piece of evidence that is received as a result of an investigation. Each piece of evidence is identified, tagged and put into a property envelope or box depending on its size. These envelopes/boxes are stored in a locked room within the District Attorney's office from which they are retrieved for use during court proceedings.
B. San Benito County Sheriff's Department Evidence Locker
We interviewed two members of the Sheriff's Department regarding this locker. This locker is located in the basement area of the former jail building. Both members were well versed in their duties and were conscientious in maintaining the security of this location. The security locks on the lockers had been upgraded within the past few months. This upgrading increased the protection of property substantially. All evidence is entered into the property log where it is assigned a number. It is then assigned a location based on its size and stored within the security room.
We were able to "test the system" by following a randomly chosen piece of evidence from the log-in book to its final assigned location. Access to the evidence lockers is strictly monitored and extremely limited. When evidence is required for presentation during court cases strict "hand over" procedures are followed by authorized personnel in accordance with department regulations.
C. Hollister Police Department Evidence Locker
We interviewed a member of the Hollister Police Department regarding this locker. This person has many years of police department experience in addition to his duties of being responsible for all Department evidence. We observed a very concise procedure for the handling of all evidence collected during the investigation of an incident or crime. The evidence room is located within the Hollister Police Department Headquarters. Once the evidence has been identified and logged in and the necessary paperwork filed, it is placed into the evidence room which has very limited access. When the evidence is required for presentation during court cases strict "hand over" procedures are followed by authorized personnel in accordance with department rules.
D. Marshall's Office Evidence Locker
We interviewed members of the Marshall's office regarding their evidence handling procedure. They receive a very limited amount of evidence directly and as such do not have a separate locker room. They do however, have a large safe within their office in the court house.
CONCLUSION
The Grand Jury wishes to congratulate the San Benito County District Attorney's Office, the San Benito County Sheriffs Department, the Hollister Police Department and the San Benito County Marshall's Office on the manner in which their various evidence lockers were maintained. This Grand Jury feels that these agencies deserve acknowledgement for a job well done!
RECOMMENDATIONS
None
AFFECTED AGENCIES
None
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