THE EVIDENCE STORAGE AREA UNDER THE I-95 OVERPASS IS ALSO

A BIO-HAZARD AREA

A container of gasoline next to an oxygen tank.

On October 28th, Miami Police Sergeant Nestor Garcia, who had been  assigned to the Property Room earlier this year decided that he had to go outside of regular channels to bring attention to the problems that he encountered every time he entered the storage areas under the I-95 Overpass.

He decided to write David Daley, the Assistant Director of Risk Management. Here is the email he sent.

Within days, an inspection tour was scheduled that included Daley and representatives of the Miami Police Department and the Miami Fire Department. The only person besides Daley and Garcia whose names I have been able to obtain that were part of this inspection tour was Major Dana Carr, who recently replaced now retired Major - and aspiring tela-novela TV star Orestes Chavez - whose office, as of this writing is still locked up tighter than Dick's Hat Band waiting to be used in that TV series that he and his wife are producing.

The one person whose identity I have so far been unable to get was the Fire Marshall representing the Fire Department, who I've now confirmed from 3 separate sources told everyone on that inspection tour that if a fire were to breakout in that area, he would not allow any members of the fire department to come in and attempt to fight it. Rather, the fire would have to burn itself out because the evidence of bio-hazards and combustible and mislabeled items was so great that ordering fire fighters to enter the area would put them at serious risk.

Here are photos of just some of those dangerous items that were just sitting around in plain sight. Many of these photos were included in the video that I posted on November 7th, but did not at the time appreciate or understand what they represented in terms of hazard and danger to both the police officers forced to work around them, or the public if something really bad happened.

Propane tank next to oxygen tanks

The next day, Garcia sent Daley a second email with a photo.

At one time the City of Miami Police Department held the largest number of untested Rape Kits in Florida.  Even though that number has supposedly been reduced significantly, here, in this sequences of 4 photos is how they treat the Rape Kits and evidence after they've been tested.

In his original email, Garcia claimed that there was mold and mildew covering the exterior on the doors of the freezer that held the untested Rape Kits, as well as the pillars holding up the I-95 Overpass.

In the first photo you see the freezer at the rear and to the left, with all of the muck in front of it.  In the second photo you can see the doors streaked with mold, and in the third photo you can see the mold covering the pillar.

There are even third world countries would would look at this and say, 'Damn, we'd never let our evidence be kept in an area as filthy as this.'

On November 1st, Garcia sent a third email.

Here is how some of those Rape Kits were thrown in a dumpster with uncontaminated property to be disposed of.

To appreciate just how crazy things are in this area.  Below is a dumpster, that during the inspection tour, the representative from the Fire Department started to lean against.

He was advised not to do that because the dumpster was actually a piece of evidence: a dead body had been thrown into it, and now it sat waiting for who knows what.

The dumpster was actually a bio-hazard, but you would have only learned that if you - or the Fire Marshall - had leaned down and looked at the little white sticker on the side.

She also did the same thing in 2013, and reported that her net worth had slightly declined to $49,450.

Just so you're clear about how all of this stuff has been co-mingled, the Black items in the foreground of the below photo are confiscated Maquinita machines, and the Red Arrow points to a bio-hazard sticker on one of the boxes containing Rape Kits being thrown away.

Because most of the large items are sitting in the open, subject to the elements mold is everywhere, as evidenced by these two photos. Appreciate that inside these boxes is evidence of some kind related to a criminal case.

Here are 3 separate Purchase Orders, dated 2012, 2013 and 2014 of items that were purchased in response to break-in and thefts in the Auto Pound.  I've been told that there are recent reports, but I continue to be jerked around regarding my public records requests to the Chief, so I haven't even bothered to try and get any of those. Maybe New Times ot the Miami Herald can try their luck.

Theft of property has also been a big problem over the years.  Here's a recent photo of a car that was broken in that was parked in the section reserved for cars seized as evidence.

This photo was NOT taken during a hurricane or thunderstorm. There is no telling what kinds of crud, diseases or bio-hazard materials is in the water and muck, but this area under the I-95 Overpass offers an excellent breeding ground for mosquitos, including those that transmit the  ZIKA virus.

A photographic exhibition of a bio-hazard site would not be complete without an obligatory photograph of a dead rat.

I will refrain from making any editorial comments about all of this until next week.

For now I would just ask you to look at these photos and consider that if you are a resident of the City of Miami, your hard earned tax dollars have been going to pay for this crap for years.

If you are a woman, consider what the message coming from the leadership of the police department is when it comes to looking out for, and showing care and respect for rape victims.

There are a lot of people who could share in the blame for what these photos say about the operation of the Miami Police Department and I will deal with that in detail next week.

Al Crespo