Bill Text: MA H2276 | 2009-2010 | 186th General Court | Introduced
Bill Title: The destruction of drugs held by police departments
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-01-20 - Public Hearing date 6/4 at 11:00 AM in Hearing Room A2 [H2276 Detail]
Download: Massachusetts-2009-H2276-Introduced.html
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Angelo M. Scaccia
_______________
To the
Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to the destruction of drugs held by police departments. .
_______________
PETITION OF:
|
Name: |
District/Address: |
|
Angelo M. Scaccia |
14th Suffolk |
|
Thomas M. Menino |
Mayor, City of Boston |
|
Linda Dorcena Forry |
12th Suffolk |
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS
SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2376 OF 2007-2008.]
The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
_______________
In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
_______________
An Act relative to the destruction of drugs held by police
departments. .
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled,
and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 47A of chapter 94C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after paragraph 2 the following new paragraph:-
At any time after seizure by a law enforcement agency of a controlled substance, the police commissioner, chief superintendent, or other office or board at the head of each police department may order, without a court order, the evidence officer to submit to the department the controlled substance or narcotic drug for destruction or disposition in any way not prohibited by law. The destruction may only occur upon the satisfaction of the following requirements:
The police department receives a certificate of analysis, sworn to before a justice of the peace or a notary public, from either the department of public safety, the University of Massachusetts medical school, or the department of public health;
Photographs have been taken which reasonably demonstrate the total amount of the controlled substance to be destroyed; and
The police commissioner, chief superintendent, or other office or board at the head of each police department has determined that destroying the controlled substance is reasonable when considering the storage and safekeeping of the controlled substance. Subsequent to any destruction of a controlled substance under this procedure, the evidence officer shall keep the original or a certified copy of the certificate of analysis, which shall be prima facie evidence of the composition and quality of the controlled substance or narcotic drug in any subsequent prosecutions pertaining to the controlled substance.
