SIUC Police Chief Sam Jordan is taking action against an officer responsible for leaving crime reports unattended at a police auction in Carbondale’s Civic Center last December.

The investigation into the misplaced reports was prompted by a Jan. 13 letter to the editor in the Daily Egyptian by Carbondale resident Georgiana Hoffmann.

Hoffmann found the reports on a table at the Dec. 13 auction when it opened at 8 a.m. She took the reports to the Carbondale Police Department, which received them at 8:17 a.m.

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Jordan and department officials conducted interviews to determine who was responsible for misplacing the reports. Jordan said about 20 people from the two departments and the auction were interviewed.

An SIUC police officer inadvertently picked up the reports from a desk with auction paperwork the day of the auction, he said.

“One of our officers made a mistake, and we are reviewing procedures and training materials with that officer to make sure reports will be handled with more care in the future,” Jordan said.

Jordan also said the University’s personnel policies and state law prohibits him from identifying the officer or elaborating on appropriate disciplinary action. He said the officer had legitimate access to the reports but failed to keep them secure.

Police do not know exactly when the reports arrived at the SIUC Police Department. Jordan said SIUC and Carbondale police departments transfer paperwork on a daily basis and this made it difficult to determine who picked up the reports on that day.

“We want to thank the two women who found the reports and turned them into Carbondale,” Jordan said. “They acted responsibly.”

Jordan confirmed that among the reports was a sexual assault case. He would not elaborate on what the other reports contained.

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“The problem is not rules and procedure,” said James Tweedy, vice chancellor of Administration. “The problem was the officer not following the rules and procedures that we already have.”

The reports, which were being used as working copies for the officer responsible, are now secure.

“I’m not aware that this is a problem,” Dr. Tweedy said. “This is the first time it’s happened in the six years I’ve been here.”