The Ottawa Police Department Evidence Section receives and stores evidentiary property relating to criminal and traffic related cases being investigated by the department.
All evidence, after being received from the investigating officer, is stored at the Ottawa Police Department in one of three secure evidence room locations. Access to stored evidence is limited to only two personnel who have been designated as Ottawa Police Department Evidence Custodians. Logging and tracking of all evidence in the custody of the Ottawa Police Department is required to meet the strictest of standards for the purpose of maintaining evidentiary value and integrity.
When criminal/traffic cases handled by the Ottawa Police Department are complete and have passed all appeal periods following prosecution, the Ottawa Police Department makes every attempt to return property held as evidence to the rightful owner(s). Often this will be an insurance company that has already paid the victim for a loss related to the case. Many times, however, the evidentiary property remands back to the Ottawa Police Department, either as a donation by the owner or due to the inability of the owner to be identified or contacted. In many cases the law requires that evidence be retained for extensive periods of time (often decades) following the conclusion of the case.
