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Manual of Policy and Procedures / Volume 5 - Line Procedures / Chapter 4 - Property and Evidence Procedures

5-04/000.80 - Responsibilities of Station/Unit Property Custodian


5-04/000.70 - Responsibilities of Station/Unit Property Lieutenant
5-04/010.00 - Property/Evidence Handling

Each station/unit where property and evidence is maintained shall have an assigned property custodian and a trained relief custodian to act in the absence of the property custodian.

Property custodians shall be scheduled to report to work prior to regular court appearance times to handle the withdrawal of property/evidence for court.

The station/unit property custodian, including Central Property custodians, shall have the following responsibilities:

  • Review the property/evidence labels, packaging, and the PRELIMS electronic entry of incoming property/evidence for accuracy and completeness, including item description, and have corrections made, where necessary. Minor clerical corrections can be made by the station/unit property custodian. All other types of corrections/changes shall be made by the booking officer.  Items pending corrections by the booking officer will be held in an identified storage location pending these corrections;
  • Place all incoming property/evidence from the interim storage room or other storage locations in the proper storage locations and log location transfers in PRELIMS;
  • Store property/evidence in the proper storage location;
  • Ensure that all property/evidence in the custody of the station/unit is logged to the appropriate location in PRELIMS; 
  • Ensure that all property/evidence temporarily removed from the station/unit for court is properly updated in PRELIMS and electronically signed out to the appropriate Department member.  A PRELIMS generated Out to Court (SH-AD-583) form shall accompany any items checked out for court;
  • For items of property/evidence checked out for investigative reasons, the property custodian must transfer custody of items to requesting Department member in PRELIMS;
  • Ensure returned property/evidence is signed in through PRELIMS and transferred to an appropriate storage location;
  • Ensure the final disposition of property/evidence is entered into PRELIMS for any items of property/evidence retained by the court and ensure that the properly completed Out to Court (SH-AD-583) form is scanned into PRELIMS;
  • Prepare and/or process property/evidence which has been held the maximum length of time at the station/unit for transfer to Central Property;
  • Make appropriate disposition entries in PRELIMS of all property/evidence which has been released to the rightful owner or disposed of at the station/unit;
  • Assist in the maintenance of proper records and the timely transfer of property/evidence stored in the safe;
  • Maintain orderly storage areas;
  • Verify that all serialized property/evidence has been entered into the appropriate automated property system (see section 5-04/050.40 Serialized and Non-Serialized Property/Evidence) and update PRELIMS with the File Control Number (FCN) and/or Crime Gun FCN.