IAPE Evidence Blog

World­Now and KOTV, NewsOn6.com, newson6.com
Link to Article

Cush­ing, OK

Dal­ton Dash Brown

CUSHING, Okla­homa — Agents with the Okla­homa State Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion arrested a man they say broke into a police sta­tion and stole prop­erty from the evi­dence room.

Police in Cush­ing, Okla­homa got a call about a door open on a vacant apart­ment right next to the Cush­ing police evi­dence room.

Offi­cers found that some­one had busted through the wall and into a room where they store evi­dence. Police quickly dis­cov­ered items from the prop­erty room were missing.

They tracked the break-in to Cush­ing res­i­dent, 26-year-old Dal­ton Dash Brown. He was arrested at the Payne County Cour­t­house while he was appear­ing on another bur­glary case.

After a two-day audit, police are con­fi­dent they’ve recov­ered the stolen evidence.

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Okla­homan, NewsOK.com newsok.com
BYLINE: TIM WILLERT twillert@opubco.com
Link to Article

Edmond, OK

Okla­homa author­i­ties have accused the for­mer police offi­cer of tak­ing $8,000 that had been placed in evi­dence dur­ing a drug investigation.

BENJAMIN NORTHCUTT: Ben­jamin C. North­cutt, 35, for­mer Edmond police offi­cer arrested in con­nec­tion with the theft of $8,000 in evi­dence money ORG XMIT: 1104142233544841

A judge has ordered a for­mer Edmond police offi­cer to stand trial on a charge that he stole $8,000 from an evi­dence locker.

Ben­jamin C. North­cutt, 36, is charged in Okla­homa County Dis­trict Court with grand lar­ceny in the alleged theft of money from the Edmond Police Depart­ment on Aug. 11.

After hear­ing tes­ti­mony Tues­day from sev­eral wit­nesses, Okla­homa County Spe­cial Judge D. Fred Doak deter­mined there was enough prob­a­ble cause to send North­cutt to trial even though he called the cir­cum­stan­tial evi­dence against him “thin.”

The $8,000 was con­fis­cated dur­ing a drug inves­ti­ga­tion Aug. 10, at 2608 Wind­hill Road. North­cutt was in the report room when the money was counted and pack­aged before it was placed in an evi­dence locker, accord­ing to court records.

A police inves­ti­ga­tor tes­ti­fied Tues­day dur­ing Northcutt’s pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing that the for­mer offi­cer can be seen on video 14 times, enter­ing and exit­ing the report room where the money was stored.

Edmond police Sgt. Tom Custer said North­cutt looked at the cam­era on each occa­sion and up and down a hall­way, actions he called “suspicious.”

On cross-examination, Custer said the cam­eras were posi­tioned out­side the report room and that he never saw North­cutt take any money.

Custer tes­ti­fied that only two offi­cers were in that report room after the money was placed in the locker.

“Only one knew the money existed in the locker,” Custer said, “and that was Northcutt.”

The police inves­ti­ga­tor tes­ti­fied that North­cutt had “money trou­bles” and his bank account had been closed.

North­cutt attor­ney Scott Adams argued there is “absolutely no evi­dence” that his client took the money.

“If there’s ever been a case where there is no prob­a­ble cause, this is it,” Adams said.

North­cutt, a for­mer patrol offi­cer, was fired March 21. He began work at the police depart­ment Dec. 13, 2004, said Anita Breen, Edmond human resource director.

North­cutt is free on bond.

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Edmond Sun, edmondsun.com
BYLINE: Mark Schlacht­en­haufen The Edmond Sun
Link to Article

Edmond,OK

EDMOND — Edmond offi­cers are busier, lead­ing to 1,272 more prop­erty items being sub­mit­ted in 2010 over 2009, police said.

Edmond Police Maj. Steve Thomp­son said the Police Department’s prop­erty room, where items includ­ing evi­dence from cases includ­ing homi­cides and home bur­glar­ies are stored, is over capacity.

Melissa Taft, a prop­erty clerk with the Edmond Police Depart­ment, talks about orga­ni­za­tion efforts in the prop­erty room. Offi­cials say it is already over capac­ity and keep­ing up with incom­ing items is a chal­lenge. MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN

Cur­rently, the agency is hav­ing to store non-essential items in two off-site loca­tions, mak­ing per­son­nel take longer to retrieve items if needed, Thomp­son said.

Police are mak­ing more arrests and respond­ing to more ser­vice calls, lead­ing to the increase, Thomp­son said. In 2009, offi­cers made 61,749 responses, an aver­age of 169 calls/contacts per day, accord­ing to the Police Department’s 2010 annual report. In 2010, offi­cers made 71,757 responses, an aver­age of 197 calls/contacts per day.

Within the past five years, felony arrests, which peaked with 441 in 2006, and were at 285 in 2008, were at 372 in 2010. Mis­de­meanor arrests, which peaked with 2,847 in 2007, were at 2,466 in 2010.

In 2010, the Police Depart­ment imple­mented quar­terly audits of the prop­erty room. Offi­cials are pleased with the out­comes, but said they revealed the seri­ous lack of space. Prop­erty clerks are work­ing to reduce the amount of prop­erty by obtain­ing legal per­mis­sion to dis­pose of items no longer needed.

Glynda Chu, spokes­woman for the Edmond Police Depart­ment, said a reor­ga­ni­za­tion effort is ongo­ing, and it is para­mount due to lim­ited stor­age space that the agency use every bit of space it has.

Base­ball bats and knives occupy space on a shelf in the Edmond Police Department’s prop­erty room. MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN

“We are doing all we can with the space we have,” Chu said. “The lack of space touches every depart­ment at the police station.”

Thomp­son said the prop­erty room has about 5,000 square feet worth of stor­age space, and plans put the actual need at about 8,213 square feet. Offi­cials have said the exist­ing facil­ity is not safe for per­sons who are arrested, vis­i­tors or staff.

An often-discussed solu­tion would be a pro­posed Pub­lic Safety Cen­ter. In 2008, vot­ers nixed a prop­erty tax that would have funded a $31.4 mil­lion, 83,000-square-foot facil­ity at Main and Kelly.

Fol­low­ing the defeat, city lead­ers have been cau­tious in their approach, includ­ing remov­ing a prop­erty tax increase as an option for pay­ing for the facility.

A 2005 needs assess­ment study revealed that Edmond’s down­town police sta­tion is out­moded due to its lim­ited space and con­fig­u­ra­tion. The pro­posed build­ing would house the Edmond Police Depart­ment and the Pub­lic Safety Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Department.

marks@edmondsun.com | 341‑2121, ext. 108

- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — -
Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org