NewsDrug-addicted rats wreak havoc on Texas police evidence

Drug-addicted rats wreak havoc on Texas police evidence

Drug-addicted rats are destroying evidence in warehouses, which is a serious problem for the Texas police. Even exterminators are struggling to deal with the rodent infestation.

Police officers in Texas complain about rats
Police officers in Texas complain about rats
Images source: © East News

Houston is storing 1.2 million pieces of evidence, including 400,000 pounds of marijuana, which attracts rodents, reported the American news agency UPI (United Press International), citing Mayor John Whitmire. He announced a plan to address the situation, including getting rid of the drugs stored for over a decade in the Texas police warehouses.

Whitmire at a press conference stated that they are still holding onto unnecessary evidence that will no longer affect any verdicts.

Drug-addicted rats eat police evidence

"They're drug-addicted rats. They're tough to deal with," said Peter Stout, head of the city's Criminalistics Center. He emphasized that rats are also destroying other physical evidence, not just marijuana. The police called in extermination specialists, but they were unable to get rid of the rodents.

The situation escalated to the point where the starving and drug-addicted rats disrupted at least one ongoing case. The rodents got into a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms and ate them all.

Houston is not the only city facing this problem. Last spring, New Orleans police also complained about rats destroying evidence.

"The rats are eating our marijuana. They're all high," explained Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick during a meeting of the city's justice committee.

Related content

© essanews.com
·

Downloading, reproduction, storage, or any other use of content available on this website—regardless of its nature and form of expression (in particular, but not limited to verbal, verbal-musical, musical, audiovisual, audio, textual, graphic, and the data and information contained therein, databases and the data contained therein) and its form (e.g., literary, journalistic, scientific, cartographic, computer programs, visual arts, photographic)—requires prior and explicit consent from Wirtualna Polska Media Spółka Akcyjna, headquartered in Warsaw, the owner of this website, regardless of the method of exploration and the technique used (manual or automated, including the use of machine learning or artificial intelligence programs). The above restriction does not apply solely to facilitate their search by internet search engines and uses within contractual relations or permitted use as specified by applicable law.Detailed information regarding this notice can be found  here.