Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991 TAG: 9102080417
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In January, the county put a $4,500 computer system on line to help track items checked into the county's evidence vault.
A bar code, like the ones on supermarket items, is attached to a tag on each piece of evidence. That tag enables the computer system to keep a record of each time the evidence is removed from the vault and who checked it out. Chief John Cease said that record will be critical in court when officers must show that evidence has not been tampered with by outsiders.
"It tightens the chain of evidence," Cease said.
The system also will allow an officer using a hand-held reader to inventory the 5,000 items kept in the safe in about 1 1/2 days. Inventory used to take about two weeks.
The system, developed by Micronetics Inc. of Roanoke, also may help police supervisors track the amount of evidence being handled by each patrol officer and investigator. Cease said that information may provide police supervisors another objective criterion for evaluating officers' performance.
Don Dyer, the department's evidence custodian, said the advantages to him will be more immediate.
Previously, he had to fill out an evidence tag by hand and distribute copies to patrol officers and investigators by interoffice mail. He would keep a copy in a file drawer in an attempt to keep track of the evidence.
Each time the evidence was checked out, he would have to make hand notations on who had it. Now, he simply types the information into the computer system, which can provide a detailed printout of who handled the evidence.
Most evidence, with the exception of drugs, cash and other valuables, is stored in a bin bearing an officer's name. The officers used to be required to come to the vault periodically to help Dyer sort through the bin to determine which evidence was still needed for active cases.
The new system, if the inventory is current, will provide a list of the evidence in the bin within minutes.
It also will be able to tell Dyer if items that are supposed to be in the vault are missing. He then can take inventory again to see if he missed something.
Dyer said the system should prove invaluable in helping compile an annual report he makes to the state on property found by officers or property never reclaimed after criminal proceedings. He said he now will be able to do in a matter of days what used to take him several weeks.
Mark Davis, president of Micronetics Inc., said his company may try to market the system nationwide. Cease said the program is about half the price of other commercial evidence-tracking programs.
"All I know is there are companies out there charging an arm and a leg for the same product," Davis said.
Dyer said he's simply glad to be rid of the old system. "It made evidence management atrocious."
by CNB