The Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced changes this week to how evidence is stored and processed in criminal cases after a rat infestation caused some problems.
Police Chief Noè Diaz announced in a press conference that in October HPD saw rats eating old marijuana in the evidence room.
“400,000 pounds of marijuana and a warehouse and rats are all they enjoy,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire enters the evidence room of the Houston Police Department. (Houston Police Department)
“Think about it, they’re rats addicted to drugs. It’s hard to deal with them,” said Peter Stout, chief of the Houston Forensic Science Center.
Whitmire says the biggest problem is that there is a lot of evidence that is no longer needed.
“The problem is that a lot of evidence is kept and is no longer needed; that has no effect on the resolution of that case, that case, or even that case,” he said during the press conference.
He went on to announce that they will work with the DA to make sure that the evidence is handled properly and if it is gone there will be a space for valuable assets.
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Police Chief Noè Diaz announced in a press conference that in October HPD saw rats eating old marijuana in the evidence room. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
HPD says there are 1.2 million pieces of evidence right now, and it’s no longer important.
Prior to this, evidence such as sticks, tennis rackets, bicycles and even rocks were kept for decades sometimes from long-solved cases.
They say that the combination of communications and laws is the main source of preventing the destruction of evidence in time.
They also say that this has caused rats and mold to accumulate in the evidence storage area, which has put new evidence at risk of contamination.
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A Houston police cruiser with a door sign. (Houston Police Department)
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“Now that this is out in the open, I think you’re going to see a lot of backlash from defense attorneys about the integrity of the evidence being used against the people they’re representing,” said Houston criminal defense attorney Anthony Osso.
All drug evidence found before 2015 will be wiped off the shelves and destroyed in cooperation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Houston Forensic Science Center.
Evidence records will be kept permanently.
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