Florida
Designing an Off-Site Evidence Storage Warehouse for Law Enforcement
Spacesaver helps this sheriff’s office keep evidence organized and compactly stored.
Overcrowded Evidence Storage
Law enforcement agencies need to store evidence for serious crimes for decades, usually until the convicted person has fulfilled his or her sentence. As a result, evidence accumulates from year to year, and this can lead to overcrowding in long-term evidence storage areas.
That was certainly the case at a sheriff’s office in Florida that typically takes in about 20,000 evidentiary items every year. The agency had been using static shelving in a 1930s-era prison for storing evidence for decades, but the facility was running out of space. In addition, the prison wasn’t designed to hold evidence: the doorways were too narrow to accommodate bulky items and the aging structure was susceptible to occasional flooding.
The project planning team wanted to optimize space, plan for future growth, and streamline workflows.
Despite the building’s shortfalls, the sheriff and his team had achieved CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) certification, which reflected their commitment to best practices in evidence storage. In order to keep their accreditation, and to keep serving the community efficiently, they needed to build a better space.
Learn About High-bay Shelving
Download our Xtend mobile system brochure.
Learn About High-bay Shelving
Download our Xtend mobile system brochure.
Secure Off-Site Evidence Storage
Off-Site Warehouse with XTend® Mobile High-Bay Shelving
Because Spacesaver is the industry leader in high-bay shelving, the project planning team called on the local Spacesaver consultant for assistance. They worked together for the next four years to design a high-bay shelving system, along with a variety of other solutions, to help keep evidence organized and secure. When the time came to build out the facility, the nearby factory-trained Spacesaver crew installed the shelving and evidence lockers.
The Spacesaver shelving provides about 40% more storage capacity.
The new building is a model of best practices in evidence storage. Long-term evidence is stored on a pair of custom 40-foot-long by 20-foot-high XTend® High-Bay Mobile Storage Systems. These systems take advantage of the facility’s vertical height, while also eliminating wasted aisle space, to gain about 40% more storage space than they had at their old site. The shelving is four feet deep to perfectly accommodate two two-foot banker’s boxes, and the boxes can be accessed from either side to improve efficiency and convenience. Aisles are opened at the point of need by press-button, app, or remote control, and every aisle has Automated Guided Vehicle technology, which helps the mechanical order pickers operate with more precision and safety.
The new building is a model of best practices in evidence storage.
Temporary Evidence Storage
A Secure System
The result is an end-to-end evidence storage and retrieval system that helps ensure that evidence is secure and justice is served. The fully optimized storage facility also has plenty of room to grow in the future, and the Sheriff’s Office has maintained its CALEA accreditation.
