Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SLO County Grand Jury wants fix of sheriff’s evidence lockers

Posted: Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:50 pm

By DANIEL BLACKBURN

Property room policies and procedures followed by sheriff’s deputies are “lax” in some instances, and the 2008-09 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury has recommended updates and monitoring of those facilities.

CalCoastNews reported in December 2008 that problems existed with least one evidence room, and that authorities were concerned that evidence chains of custody might be compromised. The Grand Jury’s current report “found no indication” of compromise.

After the Grand Jury examined the facilities a second time, “lapses” had been corrected, the report noted, adding, “Property room procedures at the North County Patrol Station in Templeton and the Coast Patrol Station in Los Osos were lax in regard to the use of their security lockers.”

Also, the report stressed that “in all cases” procedures used by deputies to handle evidence “appeared secure.”

The Grand Jury also examined evidence locker procedures of city police departments in the county and found all to maintain “particularly secure” facilities. The panel cited better training by municipal departments as the reason for this.

(See the whole report.)
slocourts.net/grand_jury/reports

http://calcoastnews.com/news.php?viewStory=172154

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