GLENDALE, AZ — In the early morning hours of July 12th, a Glendale police officer noticed a leak in an evidence storage room.
“What it turned out to be is that it was a line connected to air conditioning, so it’s leaking fresh water,” said Glendale Police Sgt. Randy Stewart. “Evidence from approximately 1,000 cases were removed from the area. Out of these, approximately 150 of them were impacted by the leak.”
Glendale police say less than 20 of the cases were homicides or sexual assaults, and all the evidence has since been dried and restored.
“Sexual assault kits are kept in refrigerated areas so those will not be included in this area,” Stewart said.
Police say all of the evidence in the room had already been tested and they do not believe any cases have been compromised by the leak.
They told the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about the leak but have not contacted anybody involved in the cases.
“That would be up to the individual detectives if they had concerns over the cases but there are no concerns that we’re aware of,” Stewart said.
Earlier this year, Phoenix Police Department Evidence was also impacted by a refrigeration issue.
“The Police Department's evidentiary freezer and refrigeration evidence storage was damaged and had to be emptied for emergency repairs,” a Phoenix city council document states. “These containers hold all biological and blood evidence for the Police Department for criminal and civil investigations.”
Phoenix police confirmed the freezer failure happened in early February 2023 and 16 "items of evidence" were reportedly "compromised" due to the freezer problem.
"The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has assured us that the loss of this evidence will not negatively impact the cases that they were related to," a police spokesperson told ABC15 earlier in October.
