Acting Twin Rivers Chief Cleans Up Disorganized Evidence Room

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A new grand jury report says money and drugs were disappearing for years from the Twin Rivers Police Department.

Now the police chief of that department is on damage control.

According to the grand jury report, the evidence room was a disorganized mess with no real record of exactly what or who was coming in or out.

On Friday, the acting police chief opened the doors to the evidence room to show CBS13 how he's cleaning it up.

The scandal riddled grand jury report reveals the grand mess that is the Twin Rivers Police Department is even worse than an already skeptical public even knew.

Their troubles were so deep that they even extended inside the evidence room.

The report describes it as a crime scene with one detective telling the grand jury that "money is missing and narcotics may have also been stolen."

"There had been some incidents with the evidence room over here and there were issues with securing it properly," said Acting Chief Scott Lacosse.

Lacosse says he knew about the evidence room issues before taking the position in early January.

There was missing evidence and nothing ever inventoried until last year. One of his first orders of business was securing it.

"It's kind of a standard policy with most police agencies to try to put policies in place that minimize opportunities for people to do things that are problematic," said Lacosse.

CBS13 is the only news crew to tour the evidence room and see some of the changes.

"The locking systems that were in place were an old fashioned mechanical system, where there was one combination that would allow access and that was very problematic," said Lacosse.

Now, only two officers have access to the evidence room. They need a key card and a pass code. A computer logs all entries and exits.

"The fob and the pin go together so if the fob gets lost there is no way to get in, even if you have it," said Lacosse.

The staff has spent the past several months organizing the evidence that dates back to the year 2000.

The department has added cameras as well. Twin Rivers police will also transport evidence like cash, drugs, and guns to the Sacramento Police Department once a week, instead of storing it in their facility.

"The broader picture, it probably would have prevented misconduct along these lines," said Lacosse.

For reporters, an evidence room is one of those places that is off limits. CBS13's Ben Sosenko was somewhat surprised when Lacosse didn't hesitate to give a tour.

However he said he wanted to show the public what he has done to change things.