The Metropolitan Police Department will soon be opening it's new evidence warehouse, a 30,000-square-foot facility that is supposed to revolutionize the art of keeping stuff in boxes.
Think Flintstones to Jestons here. Goodbye, old-school ledgers, hello bar codes. Adios, poor work conditions for employees. Goodbye, concerns about missing evidence. Well, the jury's still out on that last one we guess, but MPD is hopeful this new system and new building are a step in the right direction.
"Look at it," D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier says. "It's almost impossible to lose track of items now, once they get to work here."
Police allowed TBD Justice and her media friends to tour the warehouse Tuesday. Here's what we found.
ARTWORK OUTSIDE EVIDENCE WAREHOUSE SORTA LOOKS LIKE EVIDENCE
![mpd art guns]()
OK, not from far away. But get up close, and look. Guns!
![GUNS]()
SHELVES INSIDE EVIDENCE WAREHOUSE SORTA LOOK LIKE IKEA
![SHELVES]()
"Except better," Lanier says. She's probably wrong here. No Swedish meatballs.
BAR CODES BAR CODES BAR CODES
![WEIGHT]()
The first stop for evidence collected by MPD is the Cubiscan 150, which will weigh the item. It'll also get a bar code here, which will tell the officer where it should be stored. That bar code can be used to track the item as it moves around the judicial system.
MACHINES MACHINES MACHINES
![ROBOTS]()
Some of the evidence MPD collects will be stored in these shelves, which move to make the most of the space. In case you were wondering, people cannot be trapped in the moving shelves.
"It will not close with a person inside of the area," Lanier says.
Good to know.
![MORE ROBOTS]()
Another safety precaution is that line you might notice on the floor of the warehouse in the first shelf picture here. Once the lift hits that line, it won't stray from its intended path. Cool, right?
THIS IS WHERE THE DNA EVIDENCE GOES
![DNAFRIDGE]()
THIS IS WHERE THE DRUGS GO
![DRUG ROOM]()
THIS WAS THE BEST PART OF THE TOUR
![Candy in PCP fridge]()
Lanier opened this fridge in the drug room, which will normally be used to store drugs like PCP (I think) and there was a bag of M&M's in there. Who leaves M&M's in a drug fridge?
THIS IS WHERE THE VALUABLES GO
![Valuables room]()
Lanier says MPD used to keep actual money in its evidence warehouse, but that practice has changed. Now this room just will be used to store valuables, she says. It is across from that drug room with the PCP fridge.
AND NOW WE END OUR TOUR
![MPD evidence warehouse goodbye]()
Thanks for letting us visit! Next time can we ride that evidence lift?