Former NYPD head Thomas Donlon says shoddy evidence storage jeopardizes criminal cases
Shortly after being appointed police commissioner by the mayor Adams, Thomas Donlon made a priority to examine the storage practices of evidence in the NYPD warehouses in the city.
He was amazed at what he found – then shocked by the reaction of the police ‘brass, according to his blockbuster trial filed on Wednesday, alleging that senior NYPD officials operated a “corrupt enterprise” who rewarded the friends and enemy punished.
They did not apply his initiative. They got angry.
Two years earlier in December 2022, a massive fire caused by an electric “eruption” or an explosion in the department of the department of the department in Red Hook destroyed decades of materials, including crucial DNA evidence. The fire fuel, it was found, came from cardboard boxes, barrels and paper bags used to store evidence.
A few days after the fire, the NYPD promised “meticulous accounting” of what was lost. But after Donlon became a commissioner and asked for the head of the department, Jeffrey Maddrey, a “last full report” on the fire, he was told that none was available, said the trial.
Donlon’s point of view was the fact that the cause was known “did not excuse the apparent failure of the NYPD to investigate such a critical event”, indicates the trial.
Donlon has decided to visit the warehouses itself, indicates the trial. During a visit, he found “decades of evidence, vital for countless cases, stacked at random in cardboard boxes and barrels of paper, devoid of appropriate labeling, fireproof storage or any systematic categorization”, indicates the trial.
“The aisles were not marked, the nonexistent newspapers,” continues the Donlon trial. “The evidence of the NYPD information technology office, the cases dating back to 1981, were seated in decaying cardboard boxes” rather than in flame fire or metal containers.
He alleys that there was a lack of safety protocols, fire prevention practices and appropriate building inspections. Control of drugs, dangerous materials have been stored without obvious documentation. Some of the facilities lacked heat and functional air conditioning.
He also discovered that there was no “functional” monitoring system to locate the evidence, he said in the pursuit. Certain evidence has been dispersed or marked inconsistently and at least one cop during his visits wondered if the fire suppression systems worked.
fire
There was also a minimum of efforts to protect the evidence of cases – what he notes in the trial “could exempt the innocent”, but also “put back” the defense lawyers a tactical advantage which potentially weakens the prosecution.
Adams Wednesday said that Donlon’s accusations against the department were “baseless”.
“We are going ahead, the courts will manage this,” he said. “Employee baseless and dissatisfied with the trial, this is taken in the environment at the moment of all politics. It is a baseless costume. ”
Elizabeth Felber of the legal aid company said that his office had asked for a list of lost evidence in the fire a few days later. But to date, two years and seven months later, the NYPD has not yet responded.
“We can somehow accept them by ignoring the defense lawyer, but it is really shocking that this former police commissioner was treated in the same way,” said Felber, a supervising prosecutor of the unjustified unit of condemnation.
“It says a lot about the attitude of the mayor and the NYPD, that they are somehow above the law, that they are not responsible when negligence takes place”, “
“It’s just another manifestation of how it is such a low priority for them,” she added.
In June 2023, the member of the Gale Brewer Council (D-Manhattan) held a hearing on the warehouse fire. Felber testified, as was Mariah Martinez from New York County Defender Services.
Fire de Brooklyn
“We are unable to identify the number of our current and past cases, because the NYPD refused to provide a detailed account of the scope of fire damage,” said Martinez. “The Silence of the NYPD on the question is alarming.”
In January, News -12 reported that there had been three NYPD warehouse fires in three years – the Blaze of December 13, 2022, a second involving 10 vehicles in November and a third involving electric bike fires on January 29 – all in the Red Hook complex.
NYPD did not immediately respond to requests for comments. But during the audience of the council in 2023, the manager of the NYPD, Michael Clark, blamed Hurricane Sandy for evidence previously damaging to the warehouse. He declared that the storage of evidence in cardboard or paper barrels is the most effective way to preserve biological evidence.
After his warehouse visits, Donlon declared in the trial he held from the meetings with Maddrey, first assistant commissioner Tania Kinsella, then head of Patrol John Chell, then Deputy Commissioner of Kaz Daughtry, now deputy mayor, to highlight his concern.
But, he wrote in the costume, the police officers have stood angry that Donlon opened this box of worms.
Maddrey was “livid”. The trial alleges and complained to Mayor Adams. It is not clear from the trial what the mayor did after the complaint of Maddrey.
In the end, no measure has been taken, said the Donlon costume.
“This horrible and embarrassing disorder required immediate attention, but those at the highest levels have not acted,” said the trial. “The extent of the necessary reforms is massive and absolutely essential.”
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