SBI helps department better secure evidence

According to a release from the N.C. Department of Justice, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, at the request of Alleghany County Sheriff Mike Caudill, is working with the sheriff’s department to improve procedures for handling evidence and to make the department’s evidence room more secure.

“Steps the sheriff’s office is taking with SBI assistance include conducting a second inventory of the main evidence room; putting a two-key system in place on the main door and new locks on interior doors; setting up a system to log each piece of evidence that arrives; using evidence and property room management software; obtaining specialized training for officers who manage the property room; and setting up a computerized system for incident reporting and evidence tracking,” the release said.

Sheriff Mike Caudill said, “We’re doing everything we can to ensure that our evidence room and our procedures are updated to safeguard any collected evidence in our possession.”

Caudill noted that an earlier problem with a former employee was an isolated incident. However, he said that steps to insure that the evidence is secure were important to make. “We appreciate the SBI’s assistance in helping us pattern our evidence procedures after theirs, even though it is on a much smaller scale,” Caudill said.

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