Did you know mice like to partake of the green
stuff. Well, at least that’s what a group of police
officers tried to claim. In 2018, the upper management of a police
department near Buenos Aires, Argentina performed an inspection of impounded drugs. Curiously out of the approximately 6.6 tons
[13,228 lb or 6,000 kg] of confiscated cannabis that had been stored in a police warehouse
for the past 2 years, only 6 tons [12,037 lbs or 5,460 kg] could be accounted for. When questioned by a judge, a police commissioner
claimed that mice ate over half a ton [1,190 lbs or 540 kg] of marijuana. Forensic experts from Buenos Aires University
debunked the commissioner's explanation, saying that with their excellent sense of smell,
mice wouldn't mistake the drug for food. Also, if they had eaten large quantities of
cannabis, a lot of mouse corpses would have been found in the warehouse. Eight policemen ended up fired and the commissioner
was investigated by the court to determine if the missing drugs were the result of “expedience
or negligence”. That might be a funny incident, but how common
is it for confiscated drugs to go missing? What actually happens to drugs seized by police? Generally the procedure is determined by where
the bust happened; each country and in many cases each jurisdiction or law enforcement
agency within countries have their own set of rules, regulations, and process for confiscating
drugs. In general in the US during a raid, arrest
or any situation where the police seize narcotics, they immediately start a chain of custody
for the items. Law enforcement must manage contraband while
it’s in their possession. They have to able to show in court that the
drugs have not been swapped, altered, or tampered with prior to testing. After the narcotics are seized, the confiscating
officers take them to the police station’s property room. The officers then package the drugs in clear
plastic bags along with case information such as the seizing officer name, ID numbers, date,
time and case number. Any information is usually written in permanent
ink. Then the plastic bags are heat sealed and
tamper-evidence tape is put over the seal. The officers initial and date the tape so
if someone was able to get the tape off without tearing it, it wouldn't be possible for them
to put it back on in a way that lines up with the other writing on the tape. Once sealed, drug packages are submitted to
the Evidence Management Unit who forwards them to a crime lab or forensics unit--either
in-house or off-site. The lab tests the drugs to positively identify
exactly what the substance is. The drug ID provided by testing is crucial
in helping law enforcement to file charges and make cases. Minus the small amount used for testing, the
crime lab or forensics will return the drugs to the Evidence Management Unit for storage
pending case disposition. If the case goes to trial, the prosecutor
may request that the arresting officer bring the drugs to court. In this situation, Evidence Management would
check the drugs out of the property storage room to the officer. They would then take them to court, and return
them to the property room after the hearing or portion of trial that they were needed
for. Once the case completes, the time for an appeal
passes and the evidence is no longer needed, the drugs are reclassified in the system as
slated for destruction. Most jurisdictions hold drugs for the duration
of the trial, on average for a non serious offense the drugs might end up being held
less than 3 years. For a large bust and long trial with many
defendants, seized narcotics could be held 7-8 years. Sometimes police use the drugs slated for
destruction for undercover operations and training--both K9 and field test training
for employees who may not come into contact with drugs often, but should be familiar with
narcotics such as probation/parole officers and confidential informants. Most jurisdictions conduct biannual evidence
destructions or when the amount of contraband slated for destruction reaches a predetermined
threshold, eradication is carried out. A common exception to storing all the seized
narcotics of a case, is live marijuana plant seizures, especially from commercial outdoor
gardens. Law enforcement will collect representative
samples for court. Then they’ll use a backhoe or other gardening
equipment to dig a deep hole and mass bury the other cannabis plants. Deprived of oxygen the plants will quickly
rot and die. For destruction, law enforcement agencies
may have agreements with local funeral homes, factories or hospitals to incinerate the contraband. Generally incinerators burn hot enough to
quickly and rapidly destroy the drugs while not producing smoke. Other jurisdictions use third party contractors
licensed to handle hazardous materials to destroy the drugs on their behalf. Then there are some law enforcement agencies
that burn drugs themselves. Sometimes they get in over their own heads
such as in 2015 when a police force in Tangerang, a town 15 miles outside of Jakarta, Indonesia
decided to destroy 3 tons of cannabis in a bonfire. Realizing that the fire would give off fumes,
local officials wore gas masks, however they forgot about the town. Smoke from the fire spread and a significant
portion of the town’s residents got high or experienced dizziness and headaches. As our opening story highlighted, there are
law enforcement officers out there with sticky fingers. Sadly this is not an uncommon issue, while
researching this video we found multiple instances of cops in the US, UK and other countries
being caught stealing from property storage. In some cases, cops even skipped the evidence
storage part and simply ’misplace’ drugs during a raid or arrest. That’s what a pair of Canadian cops did--misplaced
marijuana-laced chocolate bars straight into their mouths. On January 27, 2018 Toronto constables Jamie
Young and Vittorio Dominelli were part of a raid on a pot dispensary. Vittorio stole three hazelnut chocolate bars
infused with cannabis oil. Later on that night, the 2 cops were on surveillance
duty. After a discussion about having never tried
marijuana, they decided to sample the chocolate. They ate eight squares of one bar. 20 minutes later, the effects of the chocolate
hit Vittorio ‘like a ton of bricks’. He started sweating heavily and thought he
was going to pass out. He worried that he was going to die. About 2 hours later Vittorio called for assistance
over police radio, using the 10-33 police code, which indicates an officer is in serious
trouble. He claimed that he was about to pass out from
running down the street. Responding officers said that the pair "appeared
to be in distress" when they were found. They were both taken to hospital. One of the responding officers slipped on
ice during the call and also had to be transported to hospital. Vittorio and Jamie faced misconduct charges
under the Police Services Act. Vittorio resigned from the force. A Judge called him a "complete idiot" for
tampering with evidence. Due to Vittorio’s theft, 7 of the suspects
charged in the pot-shop raid had their charges dropped. Sometimes the cops aren’t stealing to satisfy
curiosity or support a personal habit; they're running an illegal black market. In 2014 based on a tip, police in the UK conducted
a raid on police inspector Keith Boots’s home. They found cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin,
ecstasy and cannabis with an estimated street value of £700,000 [approx $874,835]. They even found 24 pounds [11 kg] cocaine
hidden in his washing machine. Prior to his arrest, Boot was responsible
for evidence storage at a West Yorkshire Police station. Part of his job was to manage seized narcotics
and make sure they were checked and signed off for disposal. However, instead he and his son Ashley ran
a drug recycling ring and sold drugs to a network of drug dealers. Keith was pretty sly--on the surface he was
extremely diligent. He sent emails to colleagues expressing his
concerns about missing or unlabelled drug packs, and also made it his responsibility
to have a CCTV camera installed in the storeroom. Ultimately Keith was found guilty of a number
of charges, including theft and intent to supply. Ashley was found guilty of five drug conspiracy
charges. While we’ve discussed some of the more lighthearted
examples of corrupt police stealing confiscated drugs, it’s a serious issue. When law enforcement and the justice system
can’t be trusted, it erodes public trust. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find detailed
statistics surrounding police theft, sometimes it’s classified as misconduct, especially
when a case against the officer isn’t pursued. When the theft is for personal use, especially
if the officer is part of a smaller force, perhaps in a small town, the response and
consequences vary greatly. Some cops are merely given a slap on the wrist,
suspended or forced to resign, perhaps fired and given suspended sentences with probation. Notably, in the US, an all too common scenario
is that after a work incident involving physical trauma an officer is prescribed pain pills
and becomes addicted. Or they developed PTSD due to the incident. In either case over time the officer spins
out of control and starts stealing from the property room at work. Sadly, decorated officers of many years have
brought life long careers to an abrupt ending due to their addictions. For larger law enforcement groups such as
those servicing a city and for scenarios where stealing confiscated drugs were just one aspect
of overall poor behavior from an officer, the end result was often jail time--often
after an investigation or sting from the Feds. Sometimes staff other than the police are
derelict in their duty of the application of law in regards to impounded drugs. In June of 2011 discrepancies were found in
the paperwork of Annie Dookhan, a chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory Institute in
Boston. This lab ids narcotics for several counties
in the state of Massachusetts. Further investigation revealed that Annie
had forged the initials of an evidence officer in her log book. Despite being suspended from lab duties, Annie
was still allowed to testify in court for 8 more months until February 2012 when Boston
district attorneys were notified of the breach in procedure. Annie was finally placed on administrative
leave and quit soon after. A police probe uncovered that for years Annie
had altered and faked test results to hide her frequent "dry labbing," or visually identifying
samples without actually testing them. She only actually tested around a third to
a fifth of the 60,000 drug samples that crossed her desk. Some coworkers had even brought concerns about
Annie to their bosses who turned a blind eye. It also came out that Annie didn’t have
a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Boston as she had claimed
on her resume and in sworn testimony. As a result of Annie’s falsifications, the
lab was shut down. Multiple charges including 17 counts of obstruction
of justice and 8 counts of tampering with evidence were brought against her. Annie was sentenced to 3-5 years' imprisonment
and 2 years' parole. Her only known motive for her actions was
to look extremely productive and further her career. In the end, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court dropped 21,587 drug convictions that had hinged on potentially tainted samples
processed by Annie. Several defendants filed civil suits. Annie’s actions wreaked absolute havoc in
many lives beyond court issues; some defendants lost jobs, driver's licenses, or were deported. Others had marriages fall apart, lost access
to kids and paid a small fortune in lawyer and court fees. The state of Massachusetts continues to deal
with fallout from the scandal. One prominent attorney said that as many as
40,000 people could have been falsely convicted as a result of Annie’s actions. Now go check out Crazy True Stories From Undercover
Cops: Or watch things you should absolutely not
do if you’re pulled over. Whichever video you watch next, it will be
far more fun than being arrested. Trust us!
