Question of the day

Chesterwyo · Sep 11, 2009

Let me start off by saying I post this here because I know there are a few law enforcement officers on this board and was seeking some advise. My wife is a manager of a shoe store in our local mall and she was working the other day and one of her employees found what looked to be a rolled up piece of paper on the floor. Thinking it was something someone had lost he picked it up to see who it belonged to. When he opened it up he found what looked to be a small baggie of methamphetamine. My wife told him to put it down and she called the mall secruity gaurd and he called the police. This is where the story gets interesting. The officer arrives and does not identify himself, simply asks where the baggie was. My wife pointed to the rolled up piece of paper behind the register where they had placed it. The officer walked over to it picked it up and said "thats defineately meth" He took the baggie out of the store and left, my wife thought the situation was over with. The officer then returns and said he conducted a field test of the drugs and it was positive for meth. He then took the baggie threw in in the garbage can behind the register and walked out. Didn't say a word. No paper work, just got the drivers license information from the kid who found it and walked out. Leaveing my wife to take care of the disposal of the drugs. I don't know a lot about meth other than what I have seen on billboard signs and read about in the news. I know it's highly toxic and I'm sure there are precedures for destroying beyond throwing it in the garbage where it can end up in the landfill. Anyone have any thought. Did the officer do the right things and I am just ignorant to drug enforcement? Or was this whole situation totally botched by the officer?

sageadvice · Sep 11, 2009

I'm no cop but you'd think that if his intention was to get rid of it, he could have flushed it. Leaving it in the garbage can seems a bit careless.

Joey

Cookie2 · Sep 11, 2009

I'm not an expert on much but haven't we gone a little far when there has to be a specific "procedure" for EVERY LITTLE THING we do in our lives? The cop showed up,(more than some will do where I live), He identified the substance,(which is really why he was called in the first place), and he took care of the situation. No big deal, problem solved.

eelgrass · Sep 11, 2009

What your wife didn't see was the cop place a hidden camera to later see who digs the meth out of the trash can. I hope nobody touched it, otherwise their going down!

Eel

Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

1911 · Sep 12, 2009

That is a little bit strange. The issue of the toxicity of the product itself is really a non issue. Methamphetamine in its processed state is rather benign, assuming you don't inhale or ingest it of course, no more dangerous than anything you would have in your average broom closet. Most of what you read about in regards to dangerous exposures and methamphetamine is related to the production and refining that occurs in a meth lab. Labs are extremely dangerous because of the fumes coming from chemical acids and bases and the 'cooking' process.

It is intriging to me that he would dispose of it in the trash receptical in the store for a variety of reasons though. For starters, it is a scheduled controlled substance and in Utah it is a felony 3 for mere possession. Not something I would want in my trash bin for obvious reasons. If he took down the info of the finder he is likely doing a report on it which brings me to reason number two I would not dispose of it that way. Doing that leaves you wide open to a later accusation that you took possession of it and now have no chain of custody to prove it was indeed disposed of. Done the proper way, a chain of paperwork and custody trail would follow to show that it was booked into evidence, accounted for, and lawfully disposed of by an evidence custodian at some point in time. An officer not following a similar protocol would leave himself wide open to speculation of what happened to the product.

That said, each state and individual agency may have a variety of policy and procedure of how, when, and where to dispose of drugs, and each may vary somewhat. So to answer your question, nobody is in grave danger from a bindle of meth in a trash bin, but that particual method seems a bit unorthadox. In my opinion it is bad practice, bad housekeeping, and bad accounting that is easily avoided with minimal effort.

NVBighorn · Sep 12, 2009

Has she emptied the trash yet?

Chesterwyo · Sep 12, 2009

Thanks for the replies everyone. My main concern was the exposure to the substance after it was thrown in the trash can. Now I know that isn't really a concern so my mind has been set at ease. Thanks guys.

browtine · Sep 13, 2009

Chester, simple answer is this. Call and ask him why? I would be sick if (this is a huge what if) some kid found it and ingested it. I can assure you his department doesn't have a policy that tells them to just throw away found drugs in the nearest garbage can. Infact, this is actually the worst thing he can do. People saw this, its lazy ass police work when he should have booked it into evidence, closed the case without a suspect, and had the property properly destroyed. As a cop, we often respond to found drugs. If cops just through that crap in the garbage everytime, its not really helping get anything off the street.

Later, Brandon

manny15 · Sep 13, 2009

>What your wife didn't see was
>the cop place a hidden
>camera to later see who
>digs the meth out of
>the trash can. I hope
>nobody touched it, otherwise their
>going down!

>
>Eel
>
>Know guns, know peace, know safety.
>No guns, no peace, no
>safety.

+1

RELH · Sep 13, 2009

If one of my officers I supervised as a Sgt. had done that, they would be getting a week on the beach without pay for failing to follow proper procedure.

I am willing to bet that lazy officer did not take a report. If he did he would have to show that the meth was properly disposed of in the evidence room. The more I think about it, that officer was not only lazy about his duties, but showed very little regard to public safety and was VERY STUPID on top of it.

The manager should contact the officer's supervisior about the poor preformance of that officer. If the store was broken into, would you want a lazy officer like that doing the investigation?

RELH