Rats feasting on drugs stored in evidence lockers

Houston officials have revealed a peculiar and pressing issue: rats, seemingly addicted to drugs, are destroying critical evidence stored in police evidence lockers.

During a press conference, Mayor John Whitmire expressed concern about the situation, highlighting the scope of the problem. “We got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage that the rats are the only ones enjoying,” he remarked.

The city has decided to take action by partnering with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to address the massive volume of evidence in storage. This initiative involves organizing the staggering 1.2 million pieces of evidence currently housed in city facilities and discarding drug-related evidence that has been stored since before 2015.

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“So much evidence is kept and stored that is no longer needed, that has no impact on the resolution of that charge, that conviction, or even that innocence,” Whitmire explained.

Rodent problem threatens more than drugs

Peter Stout, the head of the Houston Forensic Science Center, echoed the mayor’s concerns during the same conference. He explained that the large quantities of narcotics stored by the city have not only attracted rats but are also putting unrelated evidence at risk.

“They’re edible, they’re tasty, they’re all kinds of things. You can’t store large quantities of drugs without expecting some of these things to happen,” Stout stated.

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Despite efforts by police to hire exterminators, the problem persists. Stout described the rodents as particularly difficult to eliminate, referring to them as “drug-addicted rats. They’re tough to deal with.”

Impact on active cases remains minimal—for now

While the situation is alarming, officials assured the public that only one active case has been impacted so far. Rodents reportedly got into a bag containing hallucinogenic mushrooms, though no significant legal repercussions have been reported.

The issue extends beyond Houston. In March 2024, the New Orleans Police Department reported similar challenges, with pests, including rats and cockroaches, damaging drug evidence.

“The rats eating our marijuana, they’re all high,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick stated during a City Council Criminal Justice Committee meeting.

The unique problem of drug-addicted rodents underscores the need for better management of evidence storage, especially narcotics. Houston’s recent initiative to address the overwhelming backlog of evidence is a step in the right direction, though it highlights the broader challenges of maintaining secure and pest-free storage in urban law enforcement facilities.