Crime Scene/Seized Property Specialist

The primary objective of this position is to execute highly technical, specialized, and highly analytical work functions related to the collection, processing, receipt, storage, preservation, and safeguarding of seized property and evidence within the established Departmental policy framework and incompliance with applicable federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations. This position is responsible for crime scene examinations and ensuring the security and chain of custody integrity of all property taken into the Department’s custody, as well as managing the entire lifecycle of such assets from seizure to ?nal disposition.

• Must be able to establish and maintain cooperative and effective working relationships with co-workers and the public.
• Collect, preserve, process and handle evidence at major crime scenes, death scenes, and miscellaneous investigations.
• Perform latent ?ngerprint searches and submit ?ngerprint comparisons to make positive identi?cation to determine identity.
• Document crime scenes through photography, accurate sketches, diagrams, and other methods.
• Utilize alternate light sources, chemical and physical processes, scienti?c methods and equipment for the detection and collection of evidence.
• Evaluate property and evidence for evidentiary value and conduct basic laboratory processing using various processes and techniques.
• Recover, package and preserve electronic devices and media for later examination by the digital forensic investigators.
• Receive, process, store, release and maintain security of a wide variety of property, evidence, and vehicles in accordance with Department policy and state and federal law.
• Maintain security of the evidence vault and restrict access to authorized personnel only.
• Review the property received for storage in the Department’s Evidence Vault to ensure it is properly packaged and all documentation is complete and accurate before accepting it for storage. Reject and return property that is out of compliance to the seizing o?cer for correction.
• Use the automated case management system (FLEX) to identify to account for all property taken into Department Custody through law enforcement operations.
• Plan, prepare for, and participate in property dispositions, including return, release, auction, and destruction.
• Prepare, plan, and organize auctions, including ordering appraisals, coordinating advertisements, and documenting the proceeds of sale in accordance with Department policy, city ordinance and state law.
• Consign property to be auctioned to the appointed contractor in compliance with established timeframes set by Department policy, city ordinance and state law.
• Destroy property when appropriate by the e?cient, e?ective, safe and environmentally sound methods.
• Maintain all records, including ?nancial records.
• Maintain the highest standards for data entry to ensure the quality, reliability and integrity of the database.
• Prepare seized cash to be deposited into the seized currency bank account.
• Prepare Disbursement Requests for cash to be transferred out of the seized currency bank account.
• Provide necessary reconciliations from FLEX to the City Clerk, Director of Finance, and others as appropriate for monthly reconciliations of the Seized Currency Suspense Account.
• Conduct audits and reviews as directed in Departmental and city policies to ensure the integrity of the Evidence Vault, integrity of the information systems, and compliance with all applicable business practices, policies, procedures, regulation and laws.
• Facilitate and collaborate with other city departments, independent auditors, State Examiners of Public Accounts, and other relevant authorized parties as necessary who are exercising their respective oversight and review authority over the Department’s seized property and evidence programs.
• Collect crime gun intelligence by test ?ring entering all ?rearms taken into Department custody into the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) and the ATF Firearms Tracing System (eTrace) within 14 days from the date of seizure;
• Collect crime gun intelligence by entering all shell casings collected from crime scenes into NIBIN within 14 days of the date of recovery.
• Communicate all relevant crime gun intelligence developed from NIBIN and eTrace to the appropriate investigators by the most expeditious means possible and document the intelligence information through written reports and/or brie?ngs.
• Handle ?rearms and other hazardous materials safely and utilize the appropriate personal protective equipment.
• Transport items of evidence to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for lab analysis.
• Develop and provide guidance and formal continuing education to Department employees on the processing of property seized during law enforcement activities.
• Conduct formal crime scene and seized property training for police o?cer recruits as well as continuing education for all Department personnel.
• Testify in court regarding crime scene examinations; the integrity of property storage, preservation and transportation; chain of custody; and other related subjects.
• Participate in writing grants to support the evidence collection, evidence vault, crime gun intelligence and other relevant programs.
• Maintain awareness of the latest techniques, procedures, practices and trends in the art of law enforcement evidence identi?cation, collection, storage and disposition and make recommendations to evolve the Department’s crime scene processing and evidence storage programs so that they remain state of the art.

Competencies:

Knowledge

• Thorough knowledge of the administration of justice and the role of su?cient, legally admissible evidence plays in the proper functioning of the criminal justice system.
• Thorough knowledge of the processes, techniques, and procedures for the identi?cation, collection, and preservation of evidence at crime scenes.
• Thorough knowledge of the seized asset life cycle from seizure, packaging, securing, preserving, storing, to disposal when no longer needed.
• Thorough knowledge of seized assets, inventory management, and complex asset disposal methods.
• Comprehensive knowledge and mastery of critical thinking skills, advanced analytical skills, and problem-solving abilities.
• General Knowledge or the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) Standards relating to Evidence Vault and related program areas.
• Through knowledge of the best business practices for the storage of property taken into Department custody during law enforcement operations.

Skills

• Understand what database entries must be made, when to make them, why they should be made, and understanding what impact the database entries make on the overall data set is paramount.
• Pro?cient in utilizing the Microsoft O?ce suite of applications, as well as other prevalent software applications and databases employed for downloading, analyzing, sorting, and categorizing large data sets retrieved from FLEX.
• Pro?cient written and verbal communication skills.

Abilities

• Ability to prioritize tasks and maintain a keen attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain focus regardless of the changes in work environment.
• Ability to separate relevant information from irrelevant information.
• Ability to identify emerging issues and problems before they escalate into critical issues.
• Ability to take initiative to conduct appropriate analysis resulting in formulation of solutions that resolve problems with minimal to no prompting from management.
• Ability to identify recurring and systemic error patterns and to develop training and education curriculum to eliminate those repeated errors.
• Ability to work independently and take initiative with only general oversight from management.
• Ability to stay current on national trends and developments in technology, equipment, techniques, and relevant case law to keep the Department up to date on the most current standards.

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must pass a pre-employment drug test.
• Must pass a background investigation.
• Must be able to pass a polygraph.
• Candidates can be sworn or non-sworn depending on the experience of the candidate.
• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, Criminology, Criminalistics, Law Enforcement, Physical Sciences, Computer Science, Forensic Science, Homeland Security, Public Administration, Business Administration, Statistics or a closely related ?eld is preferred, but not required.
• Two years’ full-time professional work experience or an advanced degree with at least one year’s full-time professional work experience.
• Experience with crime scene processing and evidence collection.
• Must not have been the subject of a previous internal investigation where there was a ?nding of untruthfulness or a lack of candor.
• Because this position has access to ?rearms and ammunition, the candidate must not be the subject of a court-ordered restraining (protection) order from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner (spouse, former spouse, parent of applicant's child, individual who cohabitates or has cohabitated with the applicant), or child; or must not be previously convicted under Federal, State, or Tribal Court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence against an intimate partner or child.
• Because this position has access to illegal substances, the candidate must pass a pre-employment drug screen and will be subject to periodic testing in accordance with city directives and policies.
• Other requirements as set forth by the City of Pelham.

• A valid driver’s license as issued by the Alabama Department of Public Safety must be obtained and maintained within 30 days of employment.
• Normal work hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Rotating “on call” status is required. Work hours may be adjusted by management from time to time to meet mission requirements.
• Occasional overtime may be required based on mission requirements.
• Because of the periodic “on call” status, the employee must establish primary residence within a 35-mile radius of Pelham city limits.
• Attain the legal right and authority to access information from and through the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer systems.
• Within 12 months of employment, must successfully complete a 40-hour basic crime scene operations course such as Crime Scene Operations Course by the University of Tennessee Law Enforcement Innovation Center1; Basic Crime Scene Investigation by the Homeland Security Training Institute (HSTI) at the College of DuPage2, Crime Scene Investigation by the Texas A&M TEEX Extension Service3 or an equant (as determined by the Chief of Police) 40 hour course.
• Within 12 months of employment, must attain BrassTrax certification to enter all recovered firearms and shell casings recovered from crime scenes into NIBIN.