HPD Upgrades Property & Evidence Storage

The Houston Police Department originally stored all of their property and evidence in an antiquated building that was much too small. Evidence storage was a significant challenge and required increased levels of staffing and time spent on finding, storing, and retrieving evidence. The HPD was determined to solve this problem once and for all when they built their new property room. They also faced exponential growth of evidence and property. With the installation of mobilized storage systems in the form of compact pallet racks and high-density shelving, HPD was able to store and organize 1 million property and evidence items in less space and with more accessibility than ever before. (Watch Property & Evidence videos)

HPD was especially concerned with DNA evidence. The importance of DNA evidence has significantly increased the amount of evidence police departments need to collect and store long-term. HPD identified their project challenges to be:

• Safeguarding the integrity of evidence
• Accommodate up to 1 million different items with unique space needs, from drugs and jewelry to large items such as bicycles
• Easily and efficiently store, locate, and retrieve evidence
• Optimize their existing storage capacity with the building’s unique angles

Mobilized Storage Solution

Southwest Solutions Group® consulted with HPD to understand their storage needs and building design.

The first evidence storage solution included a compact pallet rack mobilized storage system. With the mobilized pallet racks, otherwise fixed rows of racking are mounted on movable carriages that move back and forth on a rail system. This way, the system is able to compact stored evidence into a much smaller footprint by condensing aisles into just a single movable aisle (with the ability to open multiple aisles at once). The racks provide 100% accessibility to every pallet or storage location and are easy to use; users simply press a button to open an aisle. The compact pallet racks deliver the maximum amount of storage density possible.

In the property and evidence room, the majority of items must be stored in six standard boxes, so the carriages of the pallet rack system were designed to that one set of carriages stores small boxes, another stores medium, and so on. The carriages are arranged so the box sizes increase from one side of the room to the other. All boxes are stored on a total of 33 mobilized carriages.

SSG also recommended a powered high-density mobilized storage system for additional evidence storage. Weapons were also stored in mobile high-density units with highly configurable shelving. Each weapon is placed in a box and the shelves are arranged for maximum density.

Results

HPD’s property room is now a technically advanced and highly functional building that is able to maintain the integrity of evidence through proper security, climate control, and storage efficiency. 

HPD was able to reduce their storage space by 30% and save significant construction costs. The property room also earned LEED certification through their use of sustainable design and construction.

The weapons storage area now provides enough space for 22,984 handguns, 5,256 rifles, and 17,500 knives in a single room with quick and easy access to each.

Contact Us for Mobilized Storage Systems

Southwest Solutions Group has installed mobilized storage systems and other innovative space-saving solutions just like this one. Before you commit to anything, we will even provide you with a free consultation to determine your exact storage and space needs. For more information or to speak with a specialist in your area, call us at 1-800-803-1083 or send us a message today.