The Carlsbad Police Department needs more room to store guns, evidence and other property, including about 700 firearms, an internal audit shows.<\/p>\n
The department keeps guns in secure storage for a variety of reasons, said Amy Ventetuolo, the city\u2019s communication and engagement director, in response to questions about the audit.<\/p>\n
Handguns, rifles, and shotguns are often held in connection with criminal investigations, Vententulo said in an email Wednesday. Some are found abandoned and taken for safekeeping. Others are acquired by court orders in personal disputes.<\/p>\n
Police also store a lot more than firearms. Evidence can include paperwork, DNA samples, drugs, electronics, clothing, chemicals, backpacks, bicycles, furniture, vehicles and more.<\/p>\n
Every item must be labeled, recorded and tracked. Some things, such as biological samples, require temperature controls or other special conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of evidence being collected continues to increase,\u201d states a report prepared by the city\u2019s internal audit manager Toufic Tabshouri. \u201cThe Police Department has been able to secure additional, temporary storage space to cope with this increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile most of the growth is unavoidable, a portion of it is attributable to firearms that are being temporarily held and stored by the Police Department for gun owners with pending legal matters.\u201d he said in a report presented last week to the Carlsbad City Council.<\/p>\n
Legislative changes contribute to the shortage of space, he said.<\/p>\n
Certain types of evidence \u2013 particularly biological or forensic materials \u2013 must be kept for longer periods, sometimes extending to decades in serious felony cases, Tabshouri said. Also, laws related to firearm relinquishment, digital evidence, or victims\u2019 rights can increase the number of items taken into custody and impose stricter documentation and retention requirements.<\/p>\n
Most law enforcement agencies store firearms, but policies vary for how long they may keep them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirearms connected to investigations or court proceedings are retained as long as necessary, while those held for safekeeping or as found property are managed in accordance with California law and department procedures,\u201d Ventetuolo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce all legal requirements are met and an individual is eligible, the department works to facilitate the firearm\u2019s lawful return,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Oceanside, Carlsbad\u2019s northern neighbor, also is running out of room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe currently have approximately 1,000 firearms being held in our evidence facility,\u201d said Oceanside police Capt. Nick Nu\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf those, approximately 700 are being held as evidence,\u201d Nu\u00f1ez said. \u201cThe remaining 300 are being held for safekeeping as found property or have been surrendered for destruction. Unfortunately, our storage areas for firearms and narcotics are reaching capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oceanside plans to build a new, larger police headquarters that could open as soon as the fall of 2029.<\/p>\n
The San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Department, which provides services in several cities along with unincorporated areas, stores about 7,200 firearms, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace within our armory is limited, and we continue to see a steady intake of firearms on a regular basis,\u201d the spokesperson said in an email. \u201cTo accommodate ongoing volume, we\u2019ve maximized available storage and monitor capacity closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other law enforcement agencies in the county said they have ample space for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe currently have 789 firearms in our custody,\u201d said Lt. Nick Sprecco at the El Cajon Police Department. \u201cWe also have sufficient storage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chula Vista police have more than 2,000 firearms in storage, a department official said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chula Vista Police Department routinely and lawfully disposes of evidence to ensure the department maintains sufficient storage capacity,\u201d states an email.<\/p>\n
The San Diego Police Department is \u201cnot experiencing those issues,\u201d a spokesperson there said.<\/p>\n
Large items taken as evidence can require significant space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile many evidence items are small and standardized \u2014 such as narcotics, documents, or small personal property, some cases involve the seizure of vehicles, furniture, machinery, or other oversized items,\u201d states the Carlsbad auditor\u2019s report.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, a single major investigation could result in the impoundment of multiple vehicles or the need to store large items such as couches, safes, or equipment associated with a crime scene,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n
Carlsbad police have been running out of room for years and outlined their needs in a 2022 memo to city officials. It recommended using temporary space in other city departments with adequate security, climate controls and network cabling, and that suggestion was implemented.<\/p>\n
As a long-term solution, the department expects to obtain space in an office building and warehouses the city plans to build on 8.44 acres along Orion Way, near the safety training center and police station.<\/p>\n
The proposed Orion Center is in the design phase, with an updated application under city review, Ventetuolo said. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2027 and expected take 14 to 18 months to complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project includes approximately 45,592 square feet of enclosed space across multiple buildings,\u201d she said. \u201cThis includes approximately 8,800 square feet for a police evidence and storage building. When this facility opens, police will continue to maintain approximately 1,823 square feet of storage at the current facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guns stored by police for people under restraining orders have fewer controls that those kept as evidence. The Carlsbad audit suggests that one way to reduce the number of guns could be to charge those owners a fee.<\/p>\n
It also notes that the tactic could have a downside, such as making it more difficult to dispose of items when an owner is reluctant to pay. None of the agencies contacted collects a fee for storing firearms.<\/p>\n
California has nine different types of restraining and protective orders that may require firearms to be relinquished. When that happens, the owners have few options.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen faced with a legal obligation to surrender firearms, gun owners have a very limited amount of time to decide whether to sell or store their firearms,\u201d the Carlsbad report states. \u201cSelling the firearms is often not the preferred option, as some gun owners are attached to their firearms for sentimental or other reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, the sale will very likely be made at a loss for the gun owner because it will have to be sold to a firearms dealer; the short timeframe for selling a gun does not permit enough time to find a private buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously to accept the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a way we can catch little loopholes and snags, and hopefully not any really big ones,\u201d said Councilmember Teresa Acosta.<\/p>\n
The report also recommended the city create better controls for handling the cash in a \u201cbuy fund\u201d that the Police Department\u2019s vice unit uses for drug deals. Typically, it\u2019s what\u2019s called \u201cflash money\u201d that detectives show when arresting drug dealers.<\/p>\n
While there have been no problems with the money, the current accounting procedures are \u201cimpractical,\u201d the auditor said.<\/p>\n
He recommended additional controls such as preparing an annual financial report on the buy fund and requiring one unannounced cash count each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carlsbad Police Department needs more room to store guns, evidence and other property, including about 700 firearms,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,375797,375798,375799,42423,375800,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,9826],"class_list":["post-931908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-carlsbad-police-department","tag-evidence-storage","tag-gun-storage","tag-guns","tag-police-firearms","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-weapons"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116912597676150347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}