Death Investigations
I wanted to reach out and see if any Agencies have a specific written policy on Deceased property and how long to keep the items after the Next of Kin has been notified. Also, if the Detective puts an item from a death in as evidence and the case ended up as a Doctors Sign off, suicide or natural causes. How do you handle the retention of said property? Thanks for your input in advance.
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As soon as we know the situation regarding the death, usually by the ME report, we reach out to the officer/detective to get authorization to dispose of evidence and release any personal property to NOK, if applicable.
We move the items to our Safekeeping area and send a certified letter to the NOK informing them that they have 60 days to contact us to obtain the property. If they haven't contacted us, we dispose of the items per policy.