The crime warehouse where thousands of pieces of evidence await a verdict

BarcelonaMore than 676,000 objects await sentencing. If we lined them all up, they would take up more than thirty kilometers. They are or were evidence in some court case and are now in safekeeping in case the case ever needs to be reviewed, or until the judge authorizes the destruction of objects corresponding to closed cases. All this evidence is stored in thirty warehouses in Catalonia, and the oldest objects are in the basement of the Barcelona Court. Here, there are 304 square meters housing more than 36,000 objects.

The space is utilized to the last inch. The shelves reach to the ceiling and are filled with packages wrapped in blue plastic, sealed and labeled. All the objects listed here have a court case, but without the case information, the workers don't know what each object was used for: perhaps it was used in a crime, perhaps it was stolen, seized from a detainee, or helped identify them. "I know there's evidence here in Rosa Peral's case, but I can't tell you what or where," explains one of the workers.

There's everything: screens, cell phones, scooters, typewriters, a barbecue, motorcycle helmets, and even a pressing machine, which was seized by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) narcotics unit. The warehouse workers have also labeled and sorted stones, clothing, old coins, and tools like a crowbar. The most valuable items are in a safe that houses some jewelry seized decades ago, watches, and art forgeries, but new items are rarely stored because valuables are now deposited in banks.

Lately, the most common addition to the inventory is mobile phones, but what stands out most are suitcases. Most were seized at El Prat Airport, currently stuffed with drugs. Those here are empty because legal effects warehouses do not hold drugs. Neither are explosives or firearms, which are handled by the Civil Guard, nor are biological sample tests, which are kept by the Catalan Institute of Forensic Medicine.

In addition, the Generalitat (Catalan government) has contracted a company to store dangerous or large-volume items. In a case, it may also be necessary to seize boats, which are stored at the port, or cars. The Mossos d'Esquadra parking lots are full, and agreements have also been made with municipal depots. Counterfeit clothing also tends to take up a lot of space, and to avoid having to store everything, they usually take photographs and carry out expert reports that will serve as evidence in court.

Digital inventory

In this basement full of objects, there are two clearly differentiated parts. On the one hand, the area that houses the oldest objects: these are evidence from cases prior to 2009, which were moved to the Barcelona Court of Appeals when the old courts closed to be relocated to the City of Justice, where a new repository was established. The oldest object now stored in the Court of Appeals was seized in 1985.

All or virtually all of these cases are closed, and many have expired, but all evidence must go through a cataloging and review process before leaving the repository. This inventory wasn't taken when the courts relocated, and it is now being updated with three additional staff members to achieve it. The Justice Department plans to complete this inventory by 2028.

"We don't destroy anything without first digitizing it and without the magistrate in charge of the case authorizing it and the prosecutor giving his approval," explains Bibiana Palomar, head of the Archives, Libraries, and Judicial Effects service of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). When they began organizing the deposit, some objects had already been there for ten to twenty years, Palomar says, and the older the cases, the more difficult it is to locate the judge and prosecutor in charge of certifying that the object can be destroyed.

The second part of the warehouse houses the objects that have already gone through the digitization process that the Generalitat (Catalan government) is implementing not only in this one, but in all judicial warehouses in Catalonia. Here, the mobile shelves are filled with boxes, and inside the objects are classified in transparent bags with a traceability label. "Computerization is extremely important; it allows the electronic file to be linked to the digitized effect," explains Palomar. Since photographs of the object from all angles are also included in this digital file, evidence almost never needs to be brought into the courtroom at trial, because the images are sufficient.

Second Life

Typically, objects that have been used as evidence in some cases are destroyed by court order when the case is closed. However, the Generalitat's goal is to ensure that items in good condition and potentially useful in other settings can be reused. For example, electronic equipment, televisions and computers, or even air conditioners that are used by marijuana plantations and could be useful in schools and institutes.

The Department of Justice and the Waste Agency have already signed an agreement to this effect, and all that remains is to finalize a protocol and ensure that court rulings not only order the destruction of evidence but also the ability to reuse it.