500 Firearms Missing From Police Evidence Room

There are 500 firearms missing from a police evidence room located in Cleveland, TX. Many believe these circumstances are a direct result of an illegal firearms trafficking scheme lead by police officials. There is now a federal investigation under way to determine if these assumptions are bona fide. The guns were discovered missing during an inventory assessment in 2009. A large portion of the firearms were recovered from a local gun shop that is foggy on how the guns came into their possession. According to the blog “Grits for Breakfast” there are only two people that hold keys to the evidence room in Cleveland. Court documents have tied Captain Harold Kelly, a custodian and key holder, to the crimes as well as Henry Patterson, Cleveland’s assistant police chief.

According to the blog, these evidence rooms are not run by civilian professionals meaning that the only people we can point our finger at are police officials. Furthermore, the officers who are usually in charge of this evidence are (1) injured and unable to patrol or (2) are assigned the duty of working the evidence room as a form of discipline. There are professional standards of how these types of evidence rooms are run, however the regulations are loose and not many follow them. It only seems natural to punish police for wrongdoing by putting them in charge of millions of dollars in evidence that is nearly untraceable. Right? While we are at it why don’t I give a burglar a key to my house?

I believe that it is ludicrous that this is happening. I can understand if 10 or maybe even 50 firearms get past an honest cop but 500??? I have had several encounters with police for minor offenses (speeding, driving with a headlight out, etc.) and have been treated like a criminal. There is nothing more irritating to me than a pompous cop talking down to me for a minor mistake and then reading something like this. I do believe there are good cops out there and we as citizens frequently take this form of protection for granted. However, when it is the very people that are supposed to uphold the law that believe they are above it…we have a problem.

We are all human and we have all made mistakes but I believe that arrogant, greedy police that are involved in schemes such as this deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law. . It’s bothersome that this type of “above the law” attitude is so normal for police and the system is extremely flawed. Rules do apply but only for the average citizen. Grits describes this incident as a “SNAFU”. I had to Google the acronym to understand what the blogger was saying and I think they summed it up pretty well…Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.