Title: What happens to evidence once a police case is closed? - Quora
Headings: What happens to evidence once a police case is closed?
What happens to evidence once a police case is closed?
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Will the police let me know when an investigation is closed?

Content: CCTV is the usual one. Nowadays we are moving to downloading all recorded imagery onto ever-expanding storage so it can be retrieved but we don’t have to maintain a huge warehouse somewhere - VHS tapes were always a huge headache for the property officer. Murders and other similar level matters, the evidence potentially will be retained for 99 years - hence the periodic retesting of exhibits in cold cases using newly developed forensic techniques. Clearing out exhibits isn’t a continuous process, the OIC gets property reminders to do something with the items they have accumulated across all their investigations, past and present, and eventually when the nagging gets too much they will authorise destruction/return etc. But often that exhibit will still physically sit there until the property officer needs some shelf space and checks for things that can be binned off. Most of our police stations seem to have a permanent skip in the back yard and some of the items that get tossed in there are to be believed. I’ve seen electronic items (cameras) numerous bits of clothing, old bikes, seized heating equipment from cannabis farms, a false leg, prams, a huge sack of fags (about 20,000 I think) and a constant flow of baseball bats, which considering I work in England and have yet to actually see a Baseball game being played anywhere in my area is a sad reflection on this piece of sporting equipment. Ted Koehl
Answered 2 years ago · Author has 219 answers and 250.8K answer views
The short answer is, it depends upon the type of case and the type of evidence you have a question about. Cases that are inactive due to a lack of available investigation leads are not technically closed until the statute of limitations has been reached. Most misdemeanor evidence can be disposed of after one (1) year.