Bonita Blue De Vault 

Metropolitan Nashville PD

Sierra Luna

Lebanon PD

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston police property warehouse needs cleaning out, officials claim. Thousands of pounds of drugs, over 60,000 firearms, blood samples and countless pieces of evidence have been collected at crime scenes. Now city leaders say some of that evidence needs to be destroyed.

On Friday, Mayor John Whitmire, Police Chief Noe Diaz, and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare all met at the police evidence store room to announce they will be destroying evidence.

We're told they'll only be destroying evidence that is no longer needed or useful to a case.

The issue is two-fold. They need to make room for the new evidence and the staffing it takes to run the facility is keeping police from being on the streets.

As the inventory is downsized, the Houston Forensic Science Center is working to transition the facility out of police control and under their control. This will release around 70 police officers to get back onto the street.

It's also a way to check the inventory they had. In October, rats were found chewing on drug evidence.

"We got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage, and the rats are the only ones enjoying it," Mayor Whitmire said.

"This is a problem for property rooms everywhere in the country. Rodents, bugs, fungus -- all kinds of things love drugs," Dr. Peter Stout, president of the Houston Forensic Science Center, said. "They've had professional exterminators involved, but this is difficult getting these rodents out of there. Think about it -- they're drug-addicted rats. They're tough to deal with."

The evidence that was destroyed by the rat was reportedly for a case that has already been adjudicated.

ABC13 Eyewitness News has been diligently reporting on the quarter million suspended incident reports that police have spent the past year re-opening and, in many cases, investigating for the very first time.

A property and evidence association plays a crucial role in the law enforcement community. It provides a platform for professionals involved in evidence and property management to come together, share best practices, and stay abreast of the latest developments in the field.