Title: The Impact of Mishandled Evidence on the Accused - Tracker Products
Headings: Blog
Blog
The Impact of Mishandled Evidence on the Accused
August 21, 2019

Content: It’s not just major agencies that can impact hundreds of lives by mishandling evidence. Sometimes, it just takes a single person…
Detective Kenneth L. Valdez was indefinitely suspended from the SVU for a number of violations that took place over two years, according to a suspension report obtained by the SACurrent. Valdez failed to submit forensic evidence to the Bexar County crime lab for any of the 27 cases he was assigned to investigate over that time period. Of the 27 cases, 17 contained evidence that specifically needed forensic testing. The report claims Valdez also failed to properly take care of evidence recovered in an investigation — inspectors found unmarked cell phones, DVDs, CDs and cash in his office, along with several unmarked envelopes containing saliva swabs taken from a person’s mouth. At least twice, Valdez did not follow up on crucial information given to him from the crime lab about possible suspects in his cases. The report mentions one of his cases where he “failed to act” after learning that a known suspect’s DNA was found on a victim. He instead concealed the information and closed the case without his supervisor’s approval. Police departments, law enforcement officers and evidence custodians can learn a lot from the real-life cases of mishandled or lost physical and digital evidence. It’s imperative for every law enforcement agency to evaluate the effectiveness of their evidence management system and consider the benefits of using evidence tracking software, as opposed to the old, ineffective paper trail systems.