MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - The Memphis mayor's office finds the MPD property room audit unacceptable. The report found guns, drugs, money and who knows what else missing from the evidence room.
Mayor Wharton met with the Police Director behind closed doors to talk about what changes need to be made.
Property and evidence taken during arrests are supposed to be securely tucked away at the Criminal Justice Center. But a city auditor found that property and evidence have been anything but secure.
"When it comes to the property room I want to be able to say we have a tight system," stated Mayor Wharton. "You're talking about subverting the process of justice if evidence is manipulated."
The audit found 10 accounts with improper access privileges that allowed the user to delete entries. Two of those accounts were generic, meaning anyone could go in and change something and never be identified.
Wharton stated, "There should be no generic codes where any number of individuals just go in and type in 1,2, 3, 4, 5 and boom - they got access to be able to manipulate things in that system."
The mayor also noted, "When you look at the sordid history of our property and evidence room you can't take anything lightly."
In 2004 a former employee of the property and evidence room was sentenced to ten years in prison for taking more than a million dollars and stealing 150 kilos of cocaine.
Between 2000 and 2003, more than two million dollars worth of cocaine, 560 pounds of pot, and 66 guns were stolen from the property room.
