Transporting of evidence shall be handled as outlined in section 5-04/030.00, Transportation of Evidence, and section 5-04/030.10, Department Evidence Courier System, except that it shall be the responsibility of station personnel to ensure narcotic evidence is packaged appropriately and placed in a conspicuous location within the station/unit evidence locker for pickup by the Scientific Services Bureau courier or to personally transport the narcotic evidence to Scientific Services Bureau.
Upon completion of scientific examination, all narcotic contraband shall be transported to the Central Property custodian by Scientific Services Bureau and/or Narcotics Bureau personnel. Narcotics contraband in excess of 8 ounces, except for cannabis, per URN and cannabis in excess of 5 pounds per URN shall not be stored at Scientific Services Bureau longer than 48 hours after the examination has been completed unless written approval is received from Scientific Services Bureau assistant director or designee allowing for additional storage time. Narcotics Bureau shall be responsible for transporting narcotics contraband in excess of the amounts stated above to Central Property and Evidence for storage. If Narcotics Bureau is not handling a cannabis investigation, the station/unit handling the cannabis investigation shall be responsible for transporting cannabis contraband in excess of the amounts stated above to Central Property and Evidence for storage.
Narcotics evidence will not routinely be transported to court. A digital image of the contraband, rather than the contraband itself, shall be taken to court.
Should the narcotics evidence be required in court, it may be retrieved from Central Property and Evidence. An Out to Court form (SH-AD-583) shall be printed upon transferring custody of the narcotics evidence to the deputy and shall be taken to court along with the narcotics evidence.
If the narcotics evidence is not introduced in court, it shall be returned to the Central Property custodian the same day.
If the narcotic evidence is retained by the court, the transporting deputy shall obtain the court seal and signature of the court clerk on the Out to Court form (SH-AD-583) before returning the form to the Central Property custodian and/or station evidence and property custodian. The Central Property custodian or the station evidence and property custodian shall be responsible for recording the narcotics evidence disposition in PRELIMS and scanning the completed Out to Court form to the case in PRELIMS. See section 5-04/080.10 Interim Removal, Transfer, and/or Release of Property/Evidence at Court.