Pubdate: Wed, 07 Dec 2005
Source: Centre Daily Times (PA)
Copyright: 2005 Nittany Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.centredaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/74

STATE COLLEGE OFFICERS KEEP CLOSE EYE ON CONFISCATIONS

STATE COLLEGE -- The statue of a saint sits high atop a shelf in the 
corner of State College police's evidence and property room, his eyes 
cast upward. Nearby, more than a dozen cases of beer and enough 
bottles of liquor to keep even the busiest downtown bar in business 
through spring rest on a set of shelves.

A refrigerator packed with DNA samples and rape kits sits in one 
corner. Two framed photo collages taken from fraternity houses are 
propped against the wall. A paper bag sealed with red tape, according 
to its tag, holds items taken from an apartment -- a comforter and a 
package of condoms that police hope will hold some clue about a 
reported sexual assault. Nearby, another sealed paper bag's tag says 
it holds clothing worn by a man who pleaded guilty to murder charges 
late last year.

The keeper of the room, certified evidence and property specialist 
Cpl. Rick Ososkie, surveys the orderly chaos with a good-natured smile.

"Basically, it's a storage room," he said. "It's not unlike a 
Wal-Mart warehouse."

The importance of organized, secure evidence storage came into the 
national spotlight during the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995, Ososkie 
said, when defense lawyers hammered away at the reliability of the 
evidence. Troubling, too, are incidents around the country where 
police officers and officials are caught stealing from the room, or 
when outsiders break in to take items, Ososkie said.

The evidence room at the police department was designed to eliminate 
the possibility that evidence can be left unattended and unsecure, 
Ososkie said.

In the hallway wall near the evidence room is a wall of lockers, 
their doors ajar. When a police officer has evidence or property to 
put in the room, he or she puts it in an open locker and shuts the 
door. Then, no one can access it until Ososkie or one of the other 
evidence room keyholders comes in and accesses the lockers through a 
padlocked door inside the room itself.

"When something comes in, it's logged and assigned a position," 
Ososkie said. "Each time it leaves or comes back, it's documented."

Within the evidence room, there's another locked room marked with the 
logo for Miller Genuine Draft beer, a playful way to note what's 
actually kept there: Money, guns and drugs.

The smell of marijuana -- seized by police during an ongoing drug 
investigation -- permeates the small, windowless room. Paper bags and 
manila envelopes line the shelves. A rack of shotguns takes up most 
of one wall, and a file cabinet opposite them is stuffed with drugs 
and weapons scheduled to be destroyed.

Ososkie goes through one of the file drawers carefully, pulling out a 
dagger, a leaded sap and a Derringer smaller than the palm of his 
hand. Some of the items in this room have been set aside for display, 
although the police department does not have place for that yet. 
Others have been marked for destruction, Ososkie said.

"Drugs gets burned, and guns get melted," Ososkie said. "The booze is 
poured down the sink."

But property is a different story. Found items are usually kept in 
the room for at least 30 days, Ososkie said, while police attempt to 
locate and notify the owner. From there, the items are either thrown 
away or sent to auction. Any money made at auction goes into the 
borough's budget.

But cash and more valuable items, like jewelry, must be turned over 
to the state, Ososkie said. When officers confiscate kegs from 
parties and return them to the distributor, the refund money must 
also be sent to the state.

As he shows two visitors around the room, he points out some of the 
odder items -- homemade potato guns, a leopard-spotted marijuana bong 
and a very expensive-looking bicycle.

"Most of the bikes we find are stored at the impound lot," he said. 
"But this one is almost new and very expensive. I'd like to find the 
owner, but we haven't been able to. If we can't, we'll probably sell 
it on eBay, because we won't get anything for it at an auction."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman