NCJ Number
182419
Date Published
November 1999
Length
46 pages
Annotation
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted an audit to determine whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had adequate physical safeguards to control access to and use of drug and weapon evidence and whether DEA maintained appropriate accountability procedures for such evidence.
Abstract
Interviews were conducted with officials from DEA headquarters and selected division offices and laboratories concerning various aspects of the seizure, storage, and disposal of seized drugs and weapons. Four division offices were then selected that had large volumes of drug seizure activity--Dallas, Miami, New York, and San Diego. The GAO found the four division offices had physical safeguards in place that, if operated effectively, would help control access to and use of drug and weapon evidence. However, the GAO found instances of inadequate packaging of drug and weapon evidence and overcrowded drug vaults that could increase the potential for theft, misuse, and loss. Further, the GAO determined that certain requirements, such as chemists returning drug evidence to the vault within 5 working days after analysis and laboratories destroying drugs within 90 days of receiving authorization to destroy, were not always met. Weaknesses in DEA accountability over drug and weapon evidence concerned incomplete and missing drug evidence documentation, including chain of custody documentation; inaccurate record-keeping of drug and weapon evidence; and improper accounting for drug weights, including unverified and unexplained weight differences in drug exhibits. DEA concurred that accountability and safeguarding of evidence are of critical importance and said it would take the appropriate steps to reinforce its adherence to existing policies or to implement new policies. Appendixes provide information on the scope and methodology of the GAO study and DEA comments. 1 table