Requires law enforcement agencies to store physical or other evidence it maintains within fireproof containers or within a fireproof storage area; requires law enforcement agencies to document and photograph evidence before it is stored in a fireproof container or storage area; requires that such documents and photographs be stored in a different location.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1809
SPONSOR: Rosenthal TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the storage of
evidence by law enforcement agencies
PURPOSE:
To enhance security of evidence storage and ensure such evidence has
been properly documented.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends executive law by adding a new section 837-x.
Section two establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In December 2022, a fire broke out at the Erie Basin Auto Pound in
Brooklyn, destroying more than thirty years of evidence that the New
York City Police Department (NYPD) had collected and stored there. This
facility is one of two auto pounds that the NYPD uses to store a variety
of evidence, including vehicles and motorbikes that have been seized
during investigations and DNA and other biological evidence from
unsolved burglaries and shootings. With the loss of this evidence, many
ongoing cases will have been upended, potentially preventing innocent
people from being cleared of wrongdoing.
This tragic event highlights the urgency for changes to law enforce-
ment's evidence storage practices. This bill will require all evidence
to be kept within fireproof storage containers and require evidence to
be properly documented and stored separately. While fires and other
disasters cannot always be avoided, new procedures for the storage of
biological and physical evidence will help to ensure such a significant
loss does not happen again.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.5343 - Referred to Ways & Means; S.6600 - Reported to Finance
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1809
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, RAMOS, SIMON, GALLAGHER, EPSTEIN --
read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the storage of
evidence by law enforcement agencies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-y
2 to read as follows:
3 § 837-y. Law enforcement agencies; storage of evidence. 1. For
4 purposes of this section, "law enforcement agency" means a police agency
5 or department of the state or any political subdivision thereof, includ-
6 ing authorities or agencies maintaining police forces of individuals
7 defined as police officers in section 1.20 of the criminal procedure
8 law, or a sheriff's department.
9 2. Every law enforcement agency shall be required to keep all physical
10 or other evidence it maintains within a fireproof container or within a
11 fireproof storage area. Such container or storage area shall be located
12 within a state-of-the-art facility utilizing modern and advanced tech-
13 nology.
14 3. Prior to the storage of evidence within a fireproof container or
15 storage area as required pursuant to subdivision two of this section,
16 every law enforcement agency shall be required to photograph and docu-
17 ment such evidence and to store such photographs and documentation in a
18 separate location which is different from the location in which the
19 evidence is being stored in a fireproof container or storage area.
20 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04672-01-5
