Until someone gets out an evidence bag, and writes the ID on it, what do you do with evidence laying on the ground that is light enough to blow away by a shuffle of the feet? (remember the cop was behind the perp and picked the bag up off the ground). Which officer had official 'control' of the evidence bag ? Was it the officer that is the subject of this discussion ?
Continuing to hold it in plain sight would be the next best thing.
And yeah you will come up with some other excuse probably. Like he had to do something else and couldn’t even hold the bag that long.
Why not bags and pens kept in uniform pocket, at least a couple.
This will waste much court time and raise needless scandal at the least. I don’t think we want to be excusing this.
> Until someone gets out an evidence bag, and writes the ID on it, what do you do with evidence laying on the ground that is light enough to blow away by a shuffle of the feet? <
How about putting it in your own pocket, or in the trunk of your squad car? I sure as heck wouldn’t mingle it with any of the suspect’s other possessions. That’s against every last rule of evidence-handling, and doesn’t make any sense...unless you were trying to frame someone.
“Until someone gets out an evidence bag, and writes the ID on it, what do you do with evidence laying on the ground that is light enough to blow away by a shuffle of the feet? (remember the cop was behind the perp and picked the bag up off the ground). Which officer had official ‘control’ of the evidence bag ? Was it the officer that is the subject of this discussion ?’
The officer’s first responsibility is the safe handling of the suspect. He needs to know where the evidence is while doing that. When the suspect is secured (cuffed and in the backseat), then the officer can secure the evidence.