Houston police are taking action as drug-addicted rats invade their evidence room, prompting new disposal measures for old narcotics.
Mayor John Whitmire, along with the district attorney and police chief, announced new plans to get rid of old drugs and evidence that have been sitting around for ages. Some of this stuff has been in storage for decades, just attracting all sorts of critters.
They’ve got about 1.2 million pieces of evidence, including tons of drugs. Whitmire joked that they have around 400,000 pounds of marijuana just sitting there, and it seems like the rats are the only ones enjoying it.
The district attorney said they’ll start destroying drug evidence collected before 2015 that’s no longer needed. Previously, they couldn’t destroy anything unless the case was older than 2005.
Now, they’ve even created a new position to help with this. A senior attorney will work with law enforcement to get rid of evidence right after a case is done.
This week, prosecutors notified defense attorneys about 3,600 open cases involving drug evidence, letting them know that rats have been snacking on the drugs in the evidence room. So far, only one case has been confirmed to have compromised evidence.
The president of the Houston Forensic Science Center mentioned that this rodent issue isn’t just local; it’s a problem everywhere in the country. He said, “Rodents, bugs, fungus, all kinds of things love drugs.”
To show how serious it is, the police chief displayed some cocaine seized back in 1996. He pointed out that the suspect is already out of prison. He emphasized that evidence with no legal value should be destroyed, and he showcased some marijuana from 1993, saying it just attracts more rodents.
It’s clear that this is a situation they can’t keep ignoring as a professional police agency.
