Reconciling Case #24-1187 Before End of Tour
You are reconciling paperwork at the end of the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. tour on Tuesday. Case #24-1187 involves an inmate booked Monday night and released Tuesday afternoon. The four relevant records are:
- Intake property receipt (Monday 8:40 p.m., Officer Tull): one wallet, one wristwatch, one cell phone, cash $86 recorded as one $50 bill, three $10 bills, and six $1 bills.
- Cellblock log (Monday 8:55 p.m.): '24-1187 - wallet, watch, phone, cash $86 - cell 3.'
- Transport slip (Tuesday 9:15 a.m.): '24-1187 to Courtroom 6. Wallet and cash retained in Property Locker B. All other property returned to inmate.'
- Property locker entry (Tuesday 4:10 p.m., release): 'Locker B opened for 24-1187. Cash counted: $76. Watch and phone returned.'
1. Verify the intake cash figure and identify every discrepancy across the four records.
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Intake math: $50 + (3 x $10) + (6 x $1) = $50 + $30 + $6 = $86. The receipt is internally consistent and matches the cellblock log, so intake is clean.
Discrepancy 1 - cash: $86 was retained in Locker B at 9:15 a.m.; the 4:10 p.m. count is $76. Ten dollars is unaccounted for, and the shortfall equals exactly one of the three $10 bills, which is consistent with a single bill being removed rather than a miscount.
Discrepancy 2 - the watch: the transport slip says everything except the wallet and cash went back to the inmate at 9:15 a.m., but the release entry says the watch and phone were returned at 4:10 p.m. Both cannot be true. One entry is wrong and the chain of custody has a gap.
2. What must be done before you leave tonight, and what must you not do?
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Before leaving: do not alter, correct, or discard any of the four documents. Recount Locker B with a second officer present and photograph the contents as found. Notify the tour supervisor immediately - a cash shortage plus a contradictory custody entry is a reportable property incident, and the inmate has already been released, so it cannot be sorted out with him present. Preserve the locker access log, since it will show who opened Locker B and when.
What you must not do is write $86 into the release entry so the paperwork agrees. Reconciling by editing destroys the only evidence that a shortage occurred.
3. Write the end-of-tour log entry (three sentences or fewer) covering what you found and what you did.
Read the worked answer
Sample entry: '2210 hrs - While reconciling Case #24-1187, noted cash retained in Locker B per 9:15 a.m. transport slip as $86.00; 4:10 p.m. release entry records $76.00 counted, a shortage of $10.00. Also noted transport slip shows watch returned 9:15 a.m. while release entry shows watch returned 4:10 p.m. Records not altered. Sgt. Ito notified 2215 hrs; recount of Locker B scheduled with second officer.'
Note the pattern: times, amounts, case number, what was observed, what was done, and nothing about who is suspected.