June 24, 1983

Recent court decisions have ruled that there is a duty to preserve all material which may constitute evidence, or might otherwise be pertinent in a subsequent criminal judicial proceeding. The purpose of this order Is to establish guidelines for the preservation of all such evidence, not presently required to be preserved pursuant to existing departmental orders, which may be required to be produced in such a proceeding. This order consists of the following parts:

PART I Responsibilities and Procedures for

Members of the Department

A. General.

B. Definitions.

C. Procedures and Explanations.

PART II Responsibilities and Procedures for

Supervisory and Command Personnel

Commanding Officers.

PART I

A. General.

In addition to materials which are required to be preserved pursuant to existing departmental orders, such as fingerprints preserved by the Identification and Records Division, or items which are required to be turned over to the Property Clerk and listed on the property book, members of the department shall preserve all potentially discoverable material, including any such material which might prove favorable to an accused.

B. Definitions.

Potentially discoverable material includes, but is not necessarily limited to, such items as tangible documents, reports, tapes, transcripts of tapes, and photographs. The following are examples:

1. Any written statement made by a witness, defendant, or codefendant, and signed or otherwise adopted or approved by him;

Publication		Effective Date	Page Number
General Order 601.2		May 26, 1972	2 of 4

2. Any stenographic, mechanical, electrical, or other recording, or transcription thereof, which is a substantially verbatim recital of an oral statement made by a prospective witness or defendant which is recorded contemporaneously with such oral statement;

3. Any notes taken by a member of the department which are a substantially verbatim recital of an oral statement made by a prospective witness or defendant which are recorded contemporaneously with the making of the oral statement (this includes an officer’s rough notes of the description of the perpetrator of a crime given by the victim or witness prior to the arrest of a suspect.);

4. Any results or reports of physical or mental examinations, or of scientific or medical tests or experiments, made In connection with a particular case, or copies thereof, which are In the possession of or have been turned over to a member of the department, (members of the department who request outside agencies to conduct any such tests shall request that the results of such tests be turned over to the department, and if they are, shall preserve such results in accordance with the terms of this order).

5. Any photographs, photograph books, papers, documents or tangible objects which are relevant to a particular case;

6. All other materials which reasonably may be expected to be relevant in a criminal judicial proceeding. Any doubt as to whether a particular Item may be relevant and therefore preservable shall be resolved in favor of preservation pursuant to the terms of this order.

C. Procedures and Explanations.

1. All potentially discoverable material, not otherwise required to be preserved according to existing departmental orders, shall be maintained in an investigative jacket or case folder when practicable. Each investigative jacket or case folder shall be preserved in a secure file cabinet.

Publication		Effective Date	Page Number
General Order 601.2		May 26, 1972	3 of 4

2. All potentially discoverable material, not otherwise required to he preserved according to existing departmental orders, which cannot practicably be maintained in an investigative jacket or case folder (or if no investigative jacket or case folder exists) shall be placed In an envelope or other appropriate container. The container shall be logged In a control book kept for that purpose. The entry in the book shall be given a control number. This number shall be placed on the envelope or container and shall also be noted in the investigative jacket or case folder (if any) as a reminder that the material has been safeguarded. The investigative jacket nr case folder shall also Indicate the location of the container. The container shall then be turned over to the unit’s administrative lieutenant who will maintain it in a secure file cabinet kept for this purpose.

3. All potentially discoverable material required to be preserved pursuant to the terms of this order shall be preserved until the particular criminal case to which the material may be relevant is finally concluded. If no criminal judicial Proceeding has been initiated, the material shall be preserved for a period of three years from the date such material was first obtained, except Communications Division magnetic radio recording tapes which shall be preserved for a period of two years from the date such tapes are recorded.

4. All tape recordings of incoming 911 calls and Communications Division administrative calls shall be preserved for a period of one year.

5. To ensure the integrity of investigative jackets and case folders, potentially discoverable material which becomes part of en investigative jacket or case folder shall be preserved until the entire investigative jacket or case folder is disposed of.

6. This order Is not intended to limit the use of potentially discoverable material. This material may be used as necessary.

e.g. Photographs and photograph books may be used for identification purposes as outlined In General Order No. 304.7. This order anticipates that a record of the photographs shown will be preserved in an investigative jacket or case folder, and that the photograph book will be preserved In an appropriate file cabinet.

7. This order does not anticipate that new or consolidated facilities must be provided where existing facilities and procedures conform to the requirements of this order.

Publication		Effective Date	Page Number
General Order 601.2		May 26, 1972	4 of 4

8. This order supplements any existing departmental orders not Inconsistent with the provisions herein. In cases of Inconsistencies, the provisions of this order shell control.

PART II

Commanding Officers.

Commanding Officers shall:

Initiate procedures to ensure that all potentially discoverable material Is preserved in the manner prescribed In paragraphs IC of this order, so that such material may be readily located and produced if necessary.