Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Police Department

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

FROM:

Casey Cooper, Police Sergeant

CC:

Tarik Khatib, Chief of Police

 

Adam Heffley, Police Captain

DATE:

February 5, 2015

RE:

Evidence Storage

 

BACKGROUND

In 2000, the Lawrence Police Department and Douglas County Sheriff’s Department relocated evidence at the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) to its current location.  The decision to store evidence in its current location was based on an evaluation of the room’s size and its ability to store a large amount of evidence/property.  Based on this evaluation, a three (3) tier shelving system was installed to maximize storage capacity of items already in custody and for future growth in evidence collection. 

 

In December 2014, Richard Crabtree, a structural engineer with Bob D. Campbell and Company conducted an inspection of the evidence room, specifically the weight capacity of the structural floor.  According to Mr. Crabtree’s report, the evidence room is thirty-five percent (35%) over weight for the structural floor’s capacity and is not code compliant.  Mr. Crabtree’s recommendation was to reduce the load to within code limits by reducing the amount of evidence stored and to reduce the number of available shelves to eight (8).   

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Based on the report and recommendation from Mr. Crabtree, evidence personnel have made it a priority to render the evidence room safe and within code compliance.  In order to achieve this requirement, several factors must be considered.  First was setting a process in place to identify evidence/property that is to be maintained, released or destroyed, and insuring it is done in accordance with Kansas Statute and Department policy.  To release or destroy evidence/property from the department’s custody, procedures are set in place to receive authorization from the US Attorney’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Municipal Court Prosecutors or the investigator responsible for collecting the items.  This process is proven to be successful, yet time consuming, as it involves several hours of research and waiting for approval from outside agencies.  Even though evidence personnel are working hard to release or destroy items, this will not be the sole solution or permanent fix to bringing or keeping the evidence room within code. 

 

The second factor to consider is storage of evidence, specifically the long term storage of items that are necessary to major case investigations.  Again, at Mr. Crabtree’s recommendation, evidence personnel must remove enough items in the evidence room that would be equivalent to completely clearing the third floor and top row of the second floor from the evidence room.  In order to achieve this absolute necessity, three (3) rooms at the Investigation and Training Center (ITC) have been identified and cleared out to make room for the storage of evidence. 

 

For these three (3) rooms to properly be utilized as evidence storage, a shelving system must be purchased.  This quoted price from Southwest Solutions is based on their previously negotiated State of Kansas contract #4056.  Southwest Solutions has provided a quote of $23,766.07 for the delivery, instillation and cleanup of static shelves.  Aaron Reynolds with Southwest Solutions has been in contact with Andy Pitts of Treanor Architects, and they believe the weight capacity of the shelves and structural floor of the three (3) rooms will be code compliant. 

 

Once approval of purchasing the shelves from Southwest Solutions is granted, it will take approximately three (3) to four (4) weeks for delivery and installation of shelves.   Once this is done then evidence personnel can began moving items from the LEC to the ITC for storage. 

   

FUNDING SOURCE

The necessary funds to cover the costs of installing the proposed shelves ($23,766.07) could be procured from the City of Lawrence’s equipment reserve.  There are no current funds available in the allotted budget for this emergency need. 

 

ACTION

Police Department staff requests approval from the City Commission to authorize the purchase of static shelving from Southwest Solutions as a sole source vendor through State of Kansas Contract #4056 for a total cost of $23,766.07.