AURORA — Between June 2000 and August 2002, someone got into the police property room and stole money, carefully avoiding detection by taking a little money from each envelope.
Money had been taken from 24 envelopes totaling $6,381.
The civilian supervisor resigned before a criminal inquiry into the missing money was finished. And no charges were ever filed because of a lack of evidence.
At Tuesday’s public-safety committee meeting, Aurora city leaders were astonished by the lax oversight then, but said what was important now was that steps have been taken to fix the problem.
“Our role now is to make sure reforms are being followed and that this doesn’t happen again,” said City Councilwoman Sue Sandstrom, chairwoman of the public-safety committee.
Police discovered the missing cash after an inventory was done in 2003 of the entire property room because of a $600,000 discrepancy later tied to a computer glitch.
During a software change in 1996, the money that was transferred from the old system to the new one was entered into the wrong data field. When funds from evidence were later returned, the amount was never reduced, according to Division Chief Ken Murphy.
Police Chief Dan Oates, who was not with the department when the money came up missing, said Tuesday that these types of incidents can happen in any business by “human beings with human frailities” who are subject to temptation.
Even so, he said steps are in place to ensure the proper storage of evidence.
“I am confident that our business practices around the handling of evidence are fine,” Oates said.
Some of those steps include requiring two sets of keys to enter the evidence vault and separating cash, drugs and jewelry confiscated in crimes. The department is also looking into using a better camera system to detect intruders and a better tracking system.
Police would not name the civilian in charge of the evidence vault who resigned, saying it was a personnel issue and that no criminal charges were filed. Each envelope that was violated contained between $1 and $500, Murphy said.
“There was a strong indication of theft, but we couldn’t prove who did it,” Murphy said. “We’re never going to find (the money).”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
