100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room

By Gregory Smith

100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room is just that. One hundred simple ways of doing old business through new ways that can lead to real success. After almost seventeen years of frustration and trying to get it right, a new roadmap is finally here in this book and has one hundred simple ways of doing it. It's simple, no-nonsense, real-world situations with real-world solutions from someone that does it every day from nine to five, with sometimes twenty-four hours being on call, and loves doing it while giving real advice that works. It's a fun read from start to finish that will have you saying, "Why didn't I think of that. Makes sense to me"—or better yet—"Wow." Leadership from the bottom up. Many organizations are merely successful surviving off of antiquated policies and procedures that create long term ineffectiveness. It has become far too common to pass down the worst practices to our new joins under the banner of "It's always been done this way." Over the past seventeen years of faithful service within the New Bern Police Department's Forensics and Evidence Unit, I have been able to deploy transcending strategies that have made me one of the leading evidence specialist throughout North Carolina. 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room is a practical and systematic guide that is a must-have for law enforcement departments of all sizes. Many departments struggle daily with the nagging questions of how to properly store evidence, as well as what are the best practices, and how should a property and evidence room be set up and maintained. In this practical and engaging book, these and many more questions are answered with clarity, accuracy, brevity, and even a splash of levity. It is not because I say so, but because my ideals really do work, and they can work for you in your evidence room. 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room is the culmination of trial and error from things that work versus things that will not work and is finally captured in a "how-to," fun, easy-to-read book that is sure to revolutionize your department's management of property and evidence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646285822

Gregory Smith

A true jack-of-all-trades, Gregory Smith is a financial advisor who has managed the business interests of ultra-high-net-worth clients across several industries. He's led dozens of business mergers and acquisitions and has been at the forefront of multiple bank acquisitions while leading challenging transactions in the aviation, chemical, automobile, finance, real estate, and insurance industries. Greg has worked with regulatory agencies of all types, including the Treasury Department, the DOT, and the FAA.Greg specializes in offering a nuanced perspective that considers all elements of a transaction, both human and financial. He draws on a vast array of experiences to enable the best outcomes for all affected constituencies.

Book preview

The Beginning

There is a quote from philosopher Confucius, later paraphrased by the contemporary musician Marc Anthony, that reads, If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. This quote embodies me as an evidence technician. I love my job! I love the challenges! I love teaching new hires about property and evidence—ranging from collecting, to packaging, and to submission! I love asking officers, How did you end up with this item? I love teaching and instructing them on the NC laws and the NC general statutes, as well as any new updates. By now, you can guess that I love everything about forensics when it comes to property and evidence.

After working in the New Bern Property and Evidence Room for one year upon my retirement from the United States Marines, I quickly discovered just how challenging and chaotic my new career would be. Just like my marine corps career started in a rigorous boot camp experience, I knew once again I was in a situation in which I had to adapt and learn quickly.

Now after over seventeen years of numerous training hours in all things about evidence, lots of career conferences, countless needed audits, inspections, online classes, new supervisors every three to four years, new software every four to six years, new coworkers coming and going, and after just plain old trial and error, I have discovered 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room. It doesn’t take a genius, but it does take commitment, dedication, and willingness to stay focused. It’s not hard work. Anything hard is worth having, and at the end of the day, it’s all about being successful and following the law. Both can be done with my 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room, and you can have fun doing it. It really is not that hard. Just remember patience, perseverance, persistence, and implementation.

Getting Started

Please enjoy the journey as you continue to read my 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room . Now let’s have some fun and be successful. I know this book will make a difference in your career and in your property and evidence rooms.

In this book, you will rediscover some things you already know, discover some things that work fine, find other things that work even better, and enhance your road to real success. I also believe and love this quote from one of my Christian brothers, Assistant Pastor Aaron Avery: You know what you know, and you don’t know what you don’t know.

For that reason, I will be mentioning some things and ideas twice to emphasize their importance. By the time you finish reading this book, you will know 100 Simple Ways How to Manage a Successful Property and Evidence Room. It really works if you implement it and stay focused. Patience, perseverance, persistence, and implementation (PPPI)—it can be done!

I’m excited just writing about what works and what does not work. One thing I know that will not work is this: if you do nothing differently, or continue to do the same thing to produce the same results of having too much stuff; and if you have worked in property and evidence for one year or more, then you know exactly what that statement means—too much stuff!

To start with, I want to show you just how much fun this book will be while you read and learn. However, from this point of reading my book, I will occasionally address property and evidence rooms as PE rooms and evidence technicians as ETs or evidence techs.

Now, I want you to think about the weirdest thing you have in your PE room.

The weirdest item I have ever encountered in a PE room was an animal DNA rape kit. The time length for storage was nine years and counting. I came across this animal DNA rape kit from two evidence techs with whom I was in training with in Goose Creek, South Carolina. They knew it was there. They knew exactly how long it had been stored, and they remembered the retired detective who turned the item in for storage. The question they could not answer was, Why they still had this animal DNA rape kit along with the other twenty-thousand-plus items they had stored. Truthfully, that animal DNA rape kit should not still be in their PE room as well as a host of other items they mentioned. After listening to some of the other crazy items they had stored, I am certain if this book had been written in 2006 could have helped them purge about 65 to 80 percent more of their stored items. Well, now the book is written, and if you are reading it, please take advantage of my 100 ways.

The second weirdest thing or things I have ever encountered in a PE room were some vampire collection cards. The time length for storage was sixteen years and counting. I came across these items from an evidence tech in Florida who has since become a very good friend and colleague of mine. I won’t mention his agency due to friendly fear of professional retaliation from him about things in my evidence room. While we were in training in Florida in 2008, he mentioned the vampire collection cards were in his PE room. He knew exactly how long the cards had been stored in his PE room on shelf 1A as I recall. He also remembered the retired sergeant who turned the items in for storage. The question he couldn’t answer was, Why he still had those cards along with the other thirty-eight-thousand-plus items he had stored, which truthfully should not have been in his PE room. Once again, I know if this book had been written in 2008, those cases of cards along with many other items in his PE room would have been purged. Now the book is written, and you’re reading it, and I can only suggest that you take advantage of what you are about to