Drug-Addicted Rats Force Overhaul of Houston Police Evidence Storage
Rats Devouring Seized Drugs in Houston Police Evidence Room
Rats in the Houston Police evidence room have been consuming narcotics stored for years, prompting a significant change in how long seized drugs must be retained, officials announced.
City Officials Take Action on Decades-Old Evidence
On Friday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, and Police Chief J. Noe Diaz outlined new measures to address the problem. Evidence stored at police headquarters downtown—some dating back decades—has attracted rodents, despite the related cases being long resolved.
The evidence includes approximately 1.2 million items stored between two locations: the downtown evidence room and a property warehouse. Among the items are hundreds of thousands of pounds of narcotics.
“We’ve got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage,” Mayor Whitmire remarked. “The rats are the only ones enjoying it.”
New Rules for Drug Disposal
District Attorney Sean Teare announced that evidence collected before 2015 and no longer required for cases will be destroyed. The previous policy only allowed for destruction of evidence from cases predating 2005.
Teare’s office has allocated funds to facilitate the disposal process. Additionally, a new senior attorney position has been created to oversee the immediate destruction of evidence after cases are resolved. This attorney will coordinate with law enforcement to ensure prompt removal of unnecessary items from the two storage locations.
Rats’ Impact on Active Cases
Notifications were sent to defense attorneys in 3,600 open cases involving drug evidence this week, informing them of the rat infestation in the downtown evidence room. However, Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, confirmed that only one active case has had evidence compromised by rodents.
Looking Ahead
The city’s new approach aims to prevent further infestations, streamline evidence management, and ensure that outdated policies no longer contribute to the storage of unnecessary evidence.
