Faribault Police Department, Property & Evidence Technician Gina Palan 

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title.  Gina LaCanne Palan,  Faribault Police Department, 17 years, 33 sworn, Property/Evidence Technician

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?  I am the only Evidence Tech, we have a Captain and a Sergeant that can fill in if I am gone.

3). What is your involvement with MAPET? Member

4). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks? Working with our multijurisdictional Drug Task Force agents.  Having the opportunity with our agency to do a 1 hour training with new officers.  Destroying evidence!

5). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room? Nothing anymore.  I had a frozen cats tail but, it was disposed of.

6). What is currently your biggest challenge?  Getting officers to put the correct information in the item description for firearms to run a proper E-trace and getting them to label their Axon video correctly and in a timely fashion.

7). Recent victory in your property room?  We are purged up to 2019 and a bit beyond. Not only house Faribault PD’s evidence but, all the agencies evidence for the DTF which is a multijurisdictional so pretty excited about the purge success. Passed 4 different audits in 2022.  Also had Axon given to me in September unexpectedly and was able to learn how to manage the evidence in there to disseminate to prosecutors and outside agencies. I guess that is few victories but, they sure do make an evidence tech happy. 

8). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?  Document, document, document!!!

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title. Katie Brinkman, St. Cloud Police Department, 13 years, 111 officers, Support Supervisor

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?  I am the supervisor over the evidence department

3). What is your involvement with MAPET? Member

4). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks? Keeping the property room organized and getting rid of property

5). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room? ????

6). What is currently your biggest challenge?  Dispositions

7). Recent victory in your property room?  Getting everything to fit on all of the shelves.  To get rid of a bunch of dispositions.

8). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?  Stay organized and don’t put things to the side to deal with later, because that pile gets high real fast.

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title.

Full name: Laura Hilgers

Department: Moorhead Police Department – Moorhead, MN

How long at Department: 22 years

Number of officers: 55

Official Title: Technical Office Specialist, Evidence Technician, Cellebrite Certified Physical Analyst

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?

A sergeant supervises the evidence room, I do all of the day to day evidence related tasks.

3). What is your involvement with MAPET?

Member

4). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks?

I enjoy all evidence technician/property room tasks.

5). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room?

A 5 foot tall, 4 foot wide (at the bottom) medieval type sword/weapon. Not sure what to call it. All I know is that it’s heavy!

6). What is currently your biggest challenge?

Finding time to return found property. Our evidence system is an all-inclusive records system that does not allow for notifications when found property can be returned. I have to run a report of the locations and property type to obtain a list of found property and then search our records system for owners to contact. It is a very tedious process, and I do not have time to do this as often as it should be done.

7). Recent victory in your property room?

We received confirmation that we can start researching stand-alone property/evidence systems that may make notifications and searching easier.

8). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?

Attend a training through IAPE – it is a very good training. Become a member of MAPET. There is very good information discussed at these meetings that are helpful for information regarding property/evidence in Minnesota. Find your own system of managing the evidence room that works for you.

Jason Kuchenmeister, Maplewood Police Department Property and Evidence Technician 

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title.

Jason Kuchenmeister, Maplewood Police Department, 4 years in March, currently we have 52 officers, Property and Evidence Technician

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?

Just me, myself and I

2). What is your involvement with MAPET?

I currently serve as the Vice-President for MAPET

3). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks?

Any time I can get out of the office and run some errands is fun.  I like going down to the BCA and submitting evidence.

4). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room?

The most interesting item I have in the property room is a mannequin without its head.  Scared the hell out of me, as it is on the top shelf and I didn’t notice it when I was going up the ladder to inventory that shelf for the first time.

5). What is currently your biggest challenge?

Right now my biggest challenge is keeping up with evidence review/disposal.  With all of the “other duties as assigned” it’s hard to keep up with getting rid of items.

6). Recent victory in your property room?

We recently purchased two shipping containers to serve as our large item storage.  This will house items like car jacks, catalytic convertors, bicycles and other large items that are not temperature sensitive.  This should free up some space in my evidence room.

7). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?

Document, document, document.  You are never going to remember everytime you moved/released/disposed of an item, so keep notes or type a narrative.  You can never have too many reminders of why you did something.

If anyone is interested in a firearm pick up / destruction - Gun Busters is coming May 9-10, 2023.

Please email Rick Borgmeyer (rick@gunbustersusa.com) to get on his schedule.

If anyone is interested in a firearm pick up / destruction - Gun Busters is coming May 17-18, 2023.

Please email Rick Borgmeyer (rick@gunbustersusa.com) to get on his schedule.

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title. Vern R. Wittenberg,  Chief Deputy for Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office, 6+ years at this Agency

 

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?

Just Me

 

2). What is your involvement with MAPET?

So far, I just joined.

 

3). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks?

I am just getting going with revamping the intake system and labeling system. I don’t really have a favorite thing yet.  

 

4). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your Property room?

A victim’s bicycle from a hit and run from the early 1980’s that was likely committed by the then Sheriff’s son.

 

5). What is currently your biggest challenge?

The amount of property in the room that needs to be gone through.

 

6). Recent victory in your property room?

Barcode / Labeling system up and running

7). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?

Go to an evidence tech training, otherwise none at this time, I’m not very familiar with it myself. 

The Minneapolis Police Department is hiring for the position of Evidence Technician! The posting closes on Sunday, March 19^th – this Sunday. If you know someone who might be interested, please let them know right away! We have two positions open and hope to find great people to work with our team! Below is the link and a screenshot of what they should look for:

https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/jobs/job-openings/apply-for-a-job/

1). Full Name, Department you work for, How long at Department, Number of officers, official title.

Kelli Jo Gauthier, Waite Park Police Department, 2 ½ years, 21 Officers, Records & Evidence Tech

2). Who is in the evidence department with you?

Mainly, it’s just me. The evidence supervisor is Sgt Rebecca Grosz.

3). What is your involvement with MAPET?

I am an annual member and recently volunteered to help with the upcoming first annual conference.

4). What are some of your favorite evidence technician/property room manager tasks?

Purging!!!

5). What is the most unique/weird item currently in your property room?

A prosthetic leg. Surprisingly, the owner has not been in a hurry to come in and pick it up.

6). What is currently your biggest challenge?

Consistency about retention policies.

7). Recent victory in your property room?

When I started, I was tasked with a complete overhaul/inventory of an evidence room that had been neglected for over 20 years. I had to touch every piece of evidence, review it for purging, and also rearranged and reorganized the entire room. In addition, I implemented a new database (PMI), so I had to transfer all items into the new system. The entire project took about a year to complete, but now it is so much easier to find things and navigate purging.

8). What advice would you give to new techs in the field?

Get Supervisor or Attorney approval before purging important items (CYA) and keep your organization simple and consistent.

Blaine PD is currently hiring for a Records Technician.  The position will close 02/24/23 at 4:30pm.  Click on the link below to find out more info or apply.

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/blaine/jobs/3919528/records-technician