City Code Chapter
14C.20.010 Maintenance of Property/Evidence Division.
- The Bureau of Police shall maintain a property/evidence division which shall keep the following:
- A. Property of all persons arrested by Portland Police and incarcerated in a Multnomah County Jail, except any personal items kept at the jailer’s discretion for the prisoners;
- B. Evidence seized by officers or other persons in the process of making an arrest;
- C. Contraband, illegal items, or miscellaneous property which comes into possession of members of the Bureau of Police.
14C.20.020 Receipts for Property.
- Officers and other authorized persons shall issue a receipt for all seized property, a duplicate copy of which shall be retained by the property/evidence division custodian. The receipt and any copy therefrom shall bear the signature of the person depositing the property and contain a description of the property.
14C.20.030 Records.
- The property/evidence division custodian shall keep an accurate record of all property received by the property/evidence division and shall keep current records showing the disposition of all property.
14C.20.040 Evidence Property.
(Amended by Ordinance 186355, effective November 27, 2013.)
- A. All property received by the property/evidence division as evidence shall be held subject to use as evidence in the appropriate court(s). Currency received by the division may be held as cash or deposited into a trust fund. Upon final disposition of the case(s) for which such property was seized as evidence, the Bureau of Police shall make a reasonable attempt to return all lawful property still held by the property/evidence division to its legal owner or rightful possessor. The property/evidence division may return currency in the form of cash.
- B. The Bureau of Police shall make a reasonable attempt to give notice to the legal owner or rightful possessor that the property will be released to him or her. The notice shall state that the legal owner or rightful possessor has 60 days within which to claim the property at the Bureau of Police. All property received from the property/evidence division requires the signature of the legal owner or rightful possessor.
- C. Upon attempted notice, if property is not claimed within 60 days, the property may be disposed of by the Bureau of Police in the manner provided by law. Payment on disputed claims shall be authorized either by an appropriate court order approved by the City Attorney or by ordinance.
14C.20.060 Found Property.
- All found property in the custody of the Bureau of Police will be held, and a reasonable attempt will be made to return the property to the owner. If the owner of found property held by the Bureau of Police cannot be determined, or no owner comes forward to claim the property, the property may be disposed after 30 days from the date the property was taken into custody by the Bureau of Police in the manner provided by law.