October 2013
Welcome IAPE Newsletter Reader 

 

Greetings!

The October Newsletter offers a brand new video for supervisors, managers, police administrators and auditors - Audits and Inventories. Additionally, there are a number of new classes being offered in 2013 and "Ask Joe" discusses Found Property Policies.


Video Announcement 
             
IAPE has produced another first of its kind video training class on how to conduct  property room
Audits and Inventories.
 
A great tool for anyone having to conduct an Audit or Inventory and not knowing where to start! This video was made for the law enforcement professional who has been given the task of "Auditing or Inventorying" the Property Room.  With years of cop experience "chasing bad guys" for a living, you have no idea where to start.  

Auditing and Inventories provides a step by step process that will guide you through the process. Don't wait till you make the headline before you audit and inventory the unit.

   

Question of the Month???  

Ask Joe  


Each month, IAPE's primary instructor, Joe Latta, answers one of your questions. Consider writing us if you have a question that needs an answer. We would love to hear from you. To submit a question for Joe to answer here, use our Contact Us page  

Q    

 
Dear Joe, 

Whose job is it? Joe, I have been working in the property room for over five years and my department has never had any type formal guidelines or policies on who is responsible for locating the owner of found property. I recently noticed at one of our annual auctions that there was a tremendous amount of what appeared to be identifiable property being auctioned off. 

When I asked my boss who was supposed to research the cases to locate an owner, she immediately responded the "submitting officer" - that's the policy, to which I asked where that policy could be found. A short time later she returned and commented "We don't have a found property policy!"

 

So my question to you Joe, who is responsible?

 

Regards, Who Is Responsible?   

A     
Dear Who is Responsible,  

 

I find it interesting that you have asked this question, as I have been asking the same question during some of our recent classes. "How many agencies represented here have a written policy that provides guidance on who is responsible for locating the owner?" To my amazement, at least 95% of the students in the class say that their department has no policy whatsoever regarding who is responsible for doing the research and notifying the owner. 

Generally speaking, the evidence custodian thinks that the officer is doing it, the officer thinks the evidence custodian or detective is doing it; when all is said and done, no one is doing it. Ironically, we wonder why we have so much "stuff" in our inventory.   If you have attended one of our classes, you may note that I have lots of opinions about property and evidence. When it comes to locating the owner of the item, my philosophy is "I don't care who does it, as long as it gets done." It can be the submitting employee, any property room personnel,  an investigator, or any other person so designated in the organization.

 

Unfortunately, most agencies have no such policies in place, which obviously denies the owner an opportunity to retrieve their property.  One of our most basic responsibilities is to attempt to reunite the owner with their property in a timely manner.

My suggestion to all is that each law enforceme nt agency should develop a written policy that outlines the responsibility of all of the parties involved in the submission, storage, and return of found property. A sample found property policy should include the following topics:

 

 Whenever found property comes to the attention of departmental personnel, the employee shall:

  • make every attempt to notify the owner that the department has custody of their property and provide information on how to claim.
  • document all found property items on a property record and submit to the property room.
  • document the circumstances surrounding the receipt of these items in a numbered incident report (the report is for any future follow-up by property room staff)
  • it shall be the responsibility of the evidence custodian to conduct a follow-up investigation and notify the owner of the found property when identified. 
  • It shall be the responsibility of the evidence custodian to locate and notify the finder of the found property in writing to determine if they are interested in claiming. 
  • found property should generally not be retained longer than statutory requirements, generally about 90 days.
  • whenever an item that appears to have evidentiary value, or a firearm is encountered, a copy of the Incident Report and Property Record shall be forwarded to the Investigations Division for their review.

 The bulleted items above reflect the types of tasks that need to be completed. It is imperative that written policy defines who is responsible for the notification to the owner or finder.  Without this policy in place notifications will most likely not be made.  

There is consensus among attendees of IAPE's Property and Evidence Management Course that the majority of our identifiable found property is eventually disposed of without any attempt made to contact the legal owner.   Law enforcement has an ethical and often a legal obligation to return property to the rightful owner and or the finder in most states.  

Joe Latta 
Executive Director

 

 NOW AVAILABLE

 

Property and Evidence 

By the Book 

 Available in hardcover and CD   

Property and Evidence By The Book 2

 

 

Completely rewritten and over 100 pages more content than first edition. Everything you ever wanted to know about operating your property room  

 

 

   

 

Property and Evidence 

Forms By the Book

   Available on CD

 

Book Cover

Over 25 property room forms that can be modified by you, a property room professionals!. The forms are completely modifiable in Microsoft Word.  

 

The Forms are also saved in a PDF format that provides the user the ability to fill in the boxes and use immediately.

 

ORDER HERE 

 

There are Two Ways to  
Take the IAPE Training Class! 
 
We have noticed many of our classes filling up quickly. If you cannot sign up for the class you want, or a class is not near your city, you can now take the Online Video Class.
To Learn more about IAPE's Online Video Class
Video Class Information  

IAPE continues its relationships with valuable and unique resources for our profession. Each month we will introduce  you to companies who offer products and services to improve evidence handling, processes and best practices.  

 





Meet Tracker   IAPE continues its relationships with valuable and unique resources for our profession. Each month we will introduce  you to companies who offer products and services to improve evidence handling, processes and best practice.

  tracker

Tracker Products.com offers evidence tracking software to police and law enforcement agencies and has successfully performed data transfers for clients switching from iTracker's 'Evidence Tracker' to the Tracker Products system in as little as twenty-four hours. "After we discovered that our current system 'Inventory Trackers' was no longer going to function after the first of the year we began to search for a new product that would be able to transition our old data and convert it into a new system.  Tracker Products was the company we selected and we could not be happier.  We are still transitioning over but Tracker Products has made this an easy process.  We look forward to a long working relationship, and would highly recommend Tracker Products for those Law Enforcement agencies in need of a property/evidence system.", said Sgt. Wade Alexander of the Delmar, Delaware Police Department, one of the first to complete the transfer of data from iTracker's system to the Tracker Products system.

 

For agencies seeking to evaluate the Tracker Products system on a trial basis, Tracker Products offers a free, partial import of data from the 'Evidence Tracker' system.      

Contact Tracker Products sales Tracker Products Sales for more information.

 

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2012 CLASS SCHEDULE

  
Greenville, SC 
October 17 - 18, 2012

(Class Full - Call for Wait List)  


Mesa, Arizona
November 6 - 7, 2012

(15 Seats Left)


Portland, OR
November 13- 14,2012   
(19 Seats Left)   

Burbank, CA 
December 4 - 5, 2012
18 Seats Left   


closed
SOLD OUT IN 2012
16 classes closed
during 2012
 
 
2013  
Classes Being Planned 
____________________

  

Las Vegas, NV
February 11 - 12,  2013
 
Manassas, VA
February 26 - 27, 2013

Bergen County, NJ

March 19 - 20, 2013

Salem, MA  
April 10 - 11, 2013


Spokane, WA
April 23 - 24, 2013

Norman, OK
May 1 - 2, 2013

Winnipeg, Manitoba
May 15 - 16, 2013

Jonesboro, AR  
June 12 - 13, 2013

Harris Co, Texas 
June 25 - 26, 2013

South Burlington VT 
 
July 9 - 10, 2013

Birmingham, AL   
July 23 - 24, 2013


So San Francisco, CA
July , 2013 (TBA)

Moline, IL
August 7 - 8, 2013
 
Call for details on sponsoring a class!

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