Independent audit of troubled property room

An independent auditor has given the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office property room a clean bill of health. The Constable called for the audit after almost 8,000 pieces of evidence were reported missing in early 2016. Some evidence had been simply misplaced, other pieces destroyed. 

When Pct. 4 Constable Mark Herman learned of the problem, he notified the Harris County District Attorney and County Attorney, started an internal investigation and terminated the employee responsible. He also changed staffing and procedures in the property room.

The current audit showed two pieces of video evidence are missing, both of which are from closed cases. The auditor recommended some procedural changes like changing the locks, storing the guns differently and depositing seized cash into interest-bearing accounts.

Constable Herman says the terminated employee did a lot of damage.

“We have one person who devastated a lot of people -- not only in this organization.”  said Herman,

Some defendants pleaded guilty, not knowing the evidence against them no longer existed. There is still a criminal investigation into the missing evidence.