Surely not everything is stored in warehouses and evidence rooms, and surely certain things can’t just be thrown out or auctioned away.
In: Other
>Surely not everything is stored in warehouses and evidence rooms, and surely certain things can’t just be thrown out or auctioned away.
sometimes the guns are destroyed, melted down or just demilled
sometimes you can claim them under forfeiture and sell the items via auctions
sometimes they sit in your evidence locker for 60 years because the guy who used it to shoot his girlfriend is 72 and still in prison.
sometimes you keep them forever (in the case of rape kits)
Vehicles are sold at auctions.
Weapons are sold to an FFL (I worked at an FFL for 8 years, every year we would clean out 2 departments from their old evidence weapons ranging from knives, bb guns, and firearms) then sold to the public. Guns that are stolen are returned to owners, guns that have serials removed are destroyed per ATF guidelines
Drugs are destroyed.
Cash is confiscated and used by the departments for new vehicles, gear, etc
It gets destroyed or burned sometimes. I got a pair of gucci sunglasses bc a family member is a detective and was about to destroy them from evidence.
I cannot say for all states, but my home state all evidence must be kept for the duration of a prison sentence plus a few years (7-10?). And that is everything. If the defendant gets a new trial through an appeal you have to have that evidence for that trial. If you get rid of it, good luck trying to get that evidence used in the new trial. Plus everything must remain so that the defendant has access for the same reasons.
Additionally, most states have laws that govern how long evidence has to be kept for.
Edit: most places that store evidence have differing levels of storage. Some is put in to be destroyed immediately, such as seized drugs with no criminal charges. Then you have short term storage like liquor bottles that were found opened in a moving vehicle. May need that for court but the max penalty is so little that most pay a fine and move on. Then they have the rooms that are hardly ever gone into, which contain evidence from homicides and aggravated assaults where the defendant had a long prison sentence. Those are not needed for evidence anymore, but have to be kept due to the laws governing evidence retention.
My wife was the office manager for a product-liability lawyer. Early in time there, she needed to get some files stored on the top shelf in a closet and asked if there was a step-stool. She asked one of the attorneys and they gave her a key to what turned out to be their evidence/exhibit room. There were about a dozen tall step-ladders there. It freaked her out a bit to use it, but she did borrow the safest looking one.
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Rule 2.
Better to r/askleo or r/ask_lawyers about this.
Depends on the Law Enforcement Agency and the crime that the evidence was obtained from.
The US Army CID saves quite a bit – a lot of crimes involve federal property. So guns and the shrapnel can be stored as cases go on appeal. I walked past their holding lot at Fort Bliss – they have cars from the 60’s and 70’s there as they may have cases still open.
I was in the market for a used car and made the mistake of trying a dealer in the shady side of town. Eyup, several cars on the lot were from the police impound lot were evidence – complete with bits missing as the police had processed them.
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