Acting police commissioner Save Liuato Tuitele has ordered a complete inventory of evidence kept in the Evidence Room at the Department of Public Safety’s main office in Fagatogo, to find out what is being kept there that is current for pending cases and what’s still there for cases already closed.

The order to the Evidence Room custodian, Sgt. Sili Lea, followed a meeting last Friday that was called with Save by Chief Justice Michael Kruse, as the High Court sought to know more about the “protocol” in place at DPS dealing with evidence submitted for cases pending in court.

The meeting request was made by Kruse during a court hearing where senior police officers were called to explain the protocol involved regarding the evidence that was kept in the Evidence Room in the drug case of defendant Ventilate Motuliki.

It was first stated in court that the drug evidence had gone missing from the room, but the court hearing later revealed that the evidence had been sent off island to the U.S. Drug  Enforcement Administration (DEA) for further testing to confirm that the drug was, in fact, crystal meth. 

Responding to Samoa News questions in a phone interview, Save said on Tuesday that he has directed a full inventory of the Evidence Room so that DPS has a full knowledge of what evidence is there for current cases — and what evidence is there which belongs to cases already closed following their disposition in court.

He said there is evidence in the room which is related to cases from many years ago — and this is one of the reasons he has directed a complete inventory. Additionally, there is evidence there for cases which have already been closed, and a report should be done and submitted to the court for an order to dispose of such evidence.

Save said another issue being addressed is the paperwork involved when evidence is submitted for safe keeping at the Evidence Room. He said the paperwork, among other things, needs to be clear and concise as to when evidence is received and when it is released, and to whom.

He further added that every time there is a change of command for the Custodian of the Evidence Room, there should also be a clear inventory taken by the outgoing person, to be presented to the incoming individual, who should also conduct an inventory.

Save is now working on proper “protocol” for the evidence room and this will be submitted to Police Commissioner William Haleck — upon his return to the territory — for his review.

Save said the court will also be kept abreast of the inventory in the Evidence Room as well as any changes that will be implemented by DPS.

(Original Samoan story was published in the Lali section of yesterday’s Samoa News edition)