Harvey adopts new evidence tr
Thursday, September 14, 2006
By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
In the wake of a scandal over a missing gun, Harvey police have new procedures for keeping track of evidence — thanks to the mayor's attorney, who drafted what he calls an "interim plan" for tracking inventory.
But an opposition alderman said having Sam Adam, a prominent defense attorney, draw up the new policy is like the "fox guarding the hen house."
"All property that is seized, recovered, found or otherwise taken into custody by officers of the Harvey Police Department will be inventoried IMMEDIATELY," reads the first page of a 16-page policy provided Wednesday to the Daily Southtown.
A .45-caliber Remington handgun confiscated in a weapons case has been missing since October. The defendant in that case also is charged in an April murder that also involving a .45-caliber gun.
Harvey detective Hollis Dorrough is charged in the handgun's disappearance. Mayor Eric Kellogg is under investigation for allegedly ordering Dorrough to return the gun to the defendant's stepfather. Kellogg has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Ald. Ronald Waters (6th) has been pushing to have either Cook County sheriff's police or Illinois State Police to study Harvey's police department, long troubled by scandal and allegations of police misconduct.
Waters, who is mounting his own bid for mayor, said allowing Adam, Kellogg's attorney, to create a police evidence-handling policy makes no sense.
He said Adam's job is to defend criminals, placing him "on the other side of the police department of Harvey."
While acknowledging a perceived conflict of interest, Adam said his experience as a defense attorney was helpful in drafting the plan. He said the new policy was meant to suffice until an outside police agency could be brought in to consult.
"Harvey needs to have some police procedure created here as far as inventorying property," Adam said, explaining that drafting outside help could take months. "If this gun had been properly inventoried, this gun could never have gone missing."
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
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