Peoria began as a small farming community and as the surrounding cities grew so did Peoria. In the last ten years farm field after farm field has been swallowed up and housing developments have emerged. The population swelled from 35,000 to over 60,000. City departments have scrambled to keep up with the growth. The police department has been challenged in many ways. In December of 1989 we moved into a new police building just a few blocks south of "Mayberry" in downtown Peoria. We didn't realize just how crowded we had been until we moved into a big new building and immediately occupied all of the space. There wasn't a spare closet anywhere. Within six months a property room that looked as though it would provide storage space for years to come was full and bursting at the seams! It was obvious that some serious attention needed to be given to purging. All attempts to get release authorizations from case officers were futile. For years court dispositions had been fi led in the case file in the records department. The property custodian was never notified that cases had been adjudicated.

Finally communication improved with the Detective Sergeant, and the property custodian. He was beginning to see the big picture! If disposition forms continued to go in the case file and detectives continued to clear cases without notifying the property custodian, a never ending mountain of evidence would take over our police department!

Now that communication seemed to resolve what was to happen from this day forward, we needed to look back. What about all of the old cases, the buried treasures that had been there for years??? There was no way that a single property custodian could research and purge so many cases without help. With increased activity for the entire department, the day-to-day business in the Property Unit was taking up all of the time. There was no time to look back.

In January of 1993, a new Police Chief arrived on the scene. Chief Michael Strope came to us from College Station Texas. Having been through the accreditation process with his department in Texas, he knew the importance of an efficient property operation. After his first year as chief he decided something must be done. He ordered a major housecleaning and purge in the property section. He assigned four Sergeants, two detectives and four field officers to carry out the task at hand. They were assigned to the property section for two weeks to accomplish what needed to be done. As Property Custodian, I was to oversee it all, but the Chief instructed them to "clean house". He promised his full support for any decision they made concerning property. Detectives were in the records department pulling case files, the county attorney's office was contacted on some cases, and everybody was very busy! In the course of the two weeks the individuals involved gained considerable knowledge of the property operation and looked at me and my job in a whole different light. It was a very good thing for me to have ten individuals learn about my job and leave with a different attitude about Property and Evidence. As happy as they were to be "released from their sentence" at the end of the two weeks, they went back to the field to spread appreciation for me and the job that I do.

At the end of two weeks over 900 pounds of contraband and biological evidence was delivered to be incinerated. Two barrels full of weapons were taken to the foundry to be melted down. Countless items of abandoned property were destroyed or turned over to the City Materials Manager for disposal. Notification cards were mailed to many happy citizens who claimed property they never thought they would see again. It was truly a "new lease on life" for me as the property custodian. This nightmare came about as a result of one small property and evidence section, with one property custodian, in a small town, suddenly being thrust into the big city! We weren't small town anymore. One person could not clean up all of the past, deal with the present day-to-day, and plan for the future. Fortunately we had a police chief who recognized this. He was willing to give the support and resources to get the job done.

Now with the past "cleaned up", it is easier to deal with the day to day operation and plan for the future. Many changes have been implemented to move us to the "big city" mentality. All property is now stored by "location", which was not done in the past. A new computer system helps us track property, chain of custody, statistics and final dispositions. Although a computer was quite a challenge at first, it is clear now that the benefits far outweigh the complications. A paper system is sti II maintained for chain of custody signatures. There are still many improvements we hope to make to our system, but we have really made great strides in moving from "Mayberry" (small town America) to the "Big City" We are "Peoria .... People, Pride, and Progress!"