PICAYUNE — All of the evidence collected by an entire police department is maintained by one person, Capt. Theresa Milar.

In addition to logging and organizing the never ending supply of evidence, Milar also does community policing,.

Tuesday night Milar spoke with “cadets” in the Picayune Police Department Community Police Academy. The event is a way for community members to get an in depth view of the department, its officers and how they do their jobs.

Milar said her career in law enforcement began as a dispatcher in 1985. She served in that capacity and as a reserve officer for four years. After leaving the department she still volunteered as a reserve officer for another six years, before she was convinced by a former police chief to take a spot in the department as a community police officer in 1996. Three years later she moved to evidence and has been doing both jobs since.

When a case is called into the department, the officers or investigators collect evidence they believe they may need to get a conviction on a case. Part of the process involves officers filling out paper work, identification cards and a log book. After the department became accredited about four years ago, the whole process has been revamped to ensure it is properly handled, she said.

Officers and investigators work to collect as much evidence as they can, even if it may not be used in court.

“It’s always better to have too much (evidence) than not enough,” Capt. Chad Dorn said.

After evidence is logged in, it is audited by Deputy Chief David Ervin several times a year to ensure it’s where it’s supposed to be, Milar said. Evidence collected for felony charges is sorted through by the District Attorney’s office to send off to the Mississippi Crime Lab for analysis, such as blood or items that may contain fingerprints. Evidence to be sent to the crime lab is limited due to the cost involved, $50 per piece. Most evidence collected for misdemeanor charges is not sent to the crime lab, but is still stored at the department.

Prior to moving to the new location at historic city hall, Milar said she worked out of a room no larger than a small, public bathroom. When officers brought in evidence, it was initially stored in old school lockers. Any evidence that required refrigeration was kept in a communal refrigerator. Now the department has state of the art lockers and a specialized refrigeration unit for temperature sensitive pieces of evidence, such as blood for a DUI case.

“When we started to get CALEA certified, we knew what we had was not going to fly,” Milar said.

DNA testing is more expensive than processing other evidence. Milar said the cheapest place to perform DNA testing, which is in Jackson, charges $400.

In some instances evidence collected is returned to the owner, especially if it was part of a shoplifting crime, or if the evidence is required by the victim to perform a job. Any drug evidence is eventually destroyed, by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Both departments follow a number of regulations to ensure drugs are destroyed properly.

Evidence collected in a misdemeanor case is typically disposed of 30 days after the case has gone to trial. Felony case evidence generally is disposed of four years after a case has gone to trail. Milar said she has evidence from 10 years ago due to the possibility the case may get another day in court.

Of all the evidence that has come into her office, Milar said the strangest was an urn brought in by a concerned citizen. As it turned out, the urn containing the ashes of a dead man ended up in the trash after the girlfriend of the deceased was jailed. The property owner cleaned out the home and threw all the woman’s things in the trash, including the urn. Milar said she didn’t think anything would come of the urn, which was recovered from the trash, but investigators were able to find the dead man’s son, who drove to Picayune and claimed his father’s remains.

There are times when a defendant attempts to reclaim evidence, usually money or a vehicle. Milar said when evidence is collected, the initial owner has 30 days to file a declaration of forfeiture request. That request is heard by a judge who requires the defendant to prove that the money was earned legally or the vehicle was not used in illegal activity. Any evidence of value that does become property of the department is put into the department’s drug fund, which is used to purchase department vehicles or investigative items. Dorn said the last time tax money was used to purchase a police department vehicle was in 1999.

Vehicles that become property of the department are either auctioned, used by investigators or given to other city departments for their use.

Weapons that have been confiscated and become property of the department are either cut up at the city barn if they are illegal, or if they are legal, they are sold at auction to licensed dealers, Milar said.

The community police side of Milar’s job deals with safety talks to children, Youth Patrol, Senior and Citizen’s Patrol, Toys for Tots, campus security, kindergarten fingerprinting and the department’s youth summer camp.

Next week cadets will learn about the department’s patrol division.