Property & Evidence Technician, Melissa DeLeeuw, New Hope Police Department
1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title.
Melissa DeLeeuw with the New Hope Police Department. I started as a clerk in March of 2022 but was promoted earlier this year to the Property and Evidence Technician position. I have worked in LE for 18 years in some fashion, but this position adds a new challenge. New Hope has 34 sworn officers.
2). Who is in the evidence department with you?
This is a newly created position for New Hope so for now I am by myself. For the first 3 months I was getting a lot of help from the investigations team.
3). What is your involvement with MAPET?
I started my membership shortly after being appointed this position. Right now my involvement is simply soaking up all of the knowledge from the other members.
4). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks?
Purging is the BEST!!! I also really enjoy getting recovered property back to its rightful owner.
5). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room?
It’s not in there anymore, but when I first took over there was a safe from our old PD building that nobody could remember the combination to. The first thing I did was take that safe to the garage and get it cracked open. I was only slightly disappointed with the lack of evidence in there.
6). What is currently your biggest challenge?
Right now, my biggest challenge is finding a good way to implement change with the officers. Using appropriate size packaging seems to be difficult.
7). Recent victory in your property room?
Between March (when I started) and the beginning of June, I cleaned out over 200 firearms and 2500 + lbs. of narcotics from the property room. Both of those destruction days were extremely exhilarating.
8). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?
Take your time and get a good understanding of what your role is before you jump right in. Ask your fellow technicians questions.