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The Mayor and Council shall consider a staff complement change to add one (1) Part-time Property Evidence Technician position in the Police Department and add the new staff complement to the 2012 Salary Plan. Discussion and Action.
AGENDA ITEM DESCRIPTION
If approved, this staff complement change will have no additional budgetary impact for the remainder of FY12-13. The salary range for the Property Evidence Technician position is $35,188 minimum to $48,507 maximum. The requested position is part-time, which equates to 30 hours or less per week.
The salary budgeted for the part-time Property Evidence Technician staff complement is $31,669 annually. The estimated cost of this action is $15,835, which covers the second half of FY12-13; January 1, 2103 through June 30, 2013. The cost to cover the salary and employee related expenses for this new position will be covered by savings from current vacancies in the police department's authorized personnel budget, which include two positions that were vacated during this fiscal year. Estimated savings from these two vacated positions is $18,750.
This staff complement is required because Police officers collect evidence on a continual 24x7 basis, often several times a day. Evidence is documented by the officer and then placed into secured lockers that are only accessible to assigned Property Evidence personnel. Each weekday the lockers are inventoried by Property Evidence personnel who tag, record and check the evidence into the secured Property Evidence area. Evidence can remain in the custody of the Property Evidence until the case is adjudicated, or, as is more likely, it needs to be transported for analysis or criminal proceedings. It is not atypical for each piece of evidence to be handled three or four times during its retention period, with each transaction requiring documentation by Property Evidence personnel.
The Property Evidence currently maintains over 11,000 evidence items, along with all departmental property items such as weapons, radios, Tasers and other equipment. All of these items must be recorded, inventoried and regularly audited. Established criminal procedures and the US Supreme Court dictate the strict mandates law enforcement agencies must adhere to related to the collection and retention of evidentiary items. Those mandates include limited control of who can access items placed into evidence, meaning not just anyone can access the Property Evidence.
Presently, the Property Evidence has only one Property Evidence manager dedicated to handle all of the various duties that pertain to this critical law enforcement function. Based upon the tremendous workload associated with any Property Evidence function, one person assuming these duties can become overwhelmed and simply unable to perform all of the duties assigned. This lapse of duties is often witnessed in the form of evidence being ruled inadmissible by the courts and criminal charges against defendants being dismissed.
Filling this position enables the Police Department to address the issue of sufficient staffing which has reached the point that it must be immediately addressed. It is not uncommon for the Property Evidence manager to come to work on her days-off to handle a transaction and she routinely stays after hours to accommodate the needs of citizens as well as officers needing evidence for a last-minute viewing. There have been occasions during the weekend when evidence lockers become full and the Property Evidence manager must come in to process the items into Property Evidence, clearing space for the officers. As recently as last week, there was an occasion when an officer required evidence for a criminal case and could not obtain the items due to the Property Evidence manager being unavailable due to a family emergency.
Since the courts and prosecutorial functions operate on a five-day work week, the Property Evidence must maintain the same schedule, as well as trying to meet the City's expanded hours so citizens are not unduly inconvenienced when the Property Evidence is not open. We have identified one police volunteer who was cleared to perform limited Property Evidence duties. This volunteer supplements hours as best she can. It is unknown how long the person will continue to volunteer with all of the duties she is asked to perform. The use of volunteers also presents a concern if they are subpoenaed to court to testify for any evidentiary issues.
Due to the personnel shortage in the Property Evidence, several crime fighting strategies are unable to be met in a timely manner. As an example, we are only able to transport blood evidence related to DUI cases to the laboratory in Phoenix once every two or three weeks; this schedule delays the scientific results that directly impede a successful prosecution. The demand of simply handling all of the evidence items does not leave time for firearms to be entered into the national database (NIBIM) nor the ability to trace firearms through the ATF. The current Property Evidence personnel are unable to keep up with court ordered property dispositions which would relive the limited storage space issues we face.
This action is being requested at this time because the need for this staff complement is needed in this fiscal year.
This item will be presented by Director of Human Resources, Karen Shaffer.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council add one (1) staff complement for the Part-time Property Evidence Technician position in the Police Department.