The Haines Borough Police Department last week discovered a “secret” room at the station that turned out to be an evidence storage repository.
Interim chief Robert Griffiths said the case of the “mystery room” is a prime example of the impact high turnover can have on an agency.
Officers found the door in the back of the station’s locked storage room, behind piles of boxes and other items.
“As we cleared the storeroom, organizing and shelving old equipment and forms, identifying items for disposal and old records to be placed on the pending disposal list, we cleared a path to the mystery door,” Griffiths said.
Because the storage room was packed beyond capacity and had been neglected, nobody knew about the hidden door, he said.
“No one currently in the police, fire or facility maintenance departments knew what was behind the door,” Griffiths said.
None of the office keys fit the lock, so fireman Al Badgley came in to help remove the hinges and gain access to the room.
“We discovered it was, indeed, a long-term evidence storage room, containing large bulky items as well as old case evidence,” Griffiths said.
The room contained a car door, an old piece of a door-jam, liquor bottles, and sealed bags and boxes with unknown contents. “I had no legitimate reason to open anything at that time, so we’ll have to investigate when we have the time to devote to the task,” he said.
Police secured the door back in place, and eventually discovered that their evidence room keys unlocked the door.
“This discovery likely doubled the amount of time our evidence audit will take, as each item must be researched to determine if it needs to be retained, can be returned to an original owner, is eligible for other disposal processes defined in borough and state codes, or must be destroyed,” Griffiths said.