The Boston Police Department’s anticorruption unit is investigating apparent tampering with evidence at its central drug depository, says the Boston Globe. Department leaders are worried that they have a new drug-related corruption scandal on their hands because of the apparent tampering, which an official characterized as theft. Acting Police Commissioner Albert Goslin said that about two months ago, the department began an audit of drug evidence stored at the depository, as a safeguard when evidence was being moved from one part of the facility to a more modern storage. He said it is impossible to know the extent of the losses, and he could not say when the facility was last audited.
Evidence from about 190,000 cases, some as much as 20 years old, is stored in the facility. The police department is required to store the evidence indefinitely when suspects don’t show up in court. “That’s a huge problem for me, and we’re trying to work something out with the DA,” Goslin said.