'High-risk' concerns found at Minneapolis Police Property and Evidence Warehouse

The Office of the Minneapolis City Auditor released a report Monday that outlines six “high-risk” concerns about the logging, storing and tracking of criminal evidence housed at the Minneapolis Police Property and Evidence Warehouse.

The top three high-risk concerns, however, are heavily redacted and the public is not able to see any details about what they might be.

Susan Trammel, an attorney in the City Attorney’s Office, explained why those three high-risk items were not disclosed under state law.

“The disclosure of some of the information contained within the Property and Evidence Audit Report could compromise security procedures or responses,” Trammel told the city’s Audit Committee.

Three other items were then listed as high-risk concerns.

The city auditor said the audit found water leaking into the warehouse with the potential to damage criminal evidence. The auditor’s report stated, “This could expose the city to legal, reputational and financial risk.”

The report also cited the tracking of evidence and property after it’s brought to the warehouse. Again, the auditor’s report said, “…there is a risk that M-P-D’s property records are not current and accurate.”

The last item of high-risk concern stated officers were not properly logging evidence into the Police Records Management System (PIMS). The report stated, “…there might be chain of custody questions and concerns.”

Audit Committee member Kathy Abene said she had a strong concern about the water leaking from the roof into the warehouse.

“The evidence in there and anyone that’s associated with criminal evidence, or crime evidence, knows this is important,” said Abene.

City Council Vice President and Audit Committee member Aisha Chughtai said these items listed in the audit should be addressed as soon as possible.

“There is a need to either make explicit policy or change policy where it exists right now,” said Chughtai.