OPD Evidence Manager Quits
A longtime evidence management consultant who helped rebuild the Olney Police Department’s case handling procedures has terminated his contract, citing concerns about how evidence is being processed under new leadership.
John Vasquez, a six-year consultant for the department and a four-time president of the Texas Association of Property and Evidence Inventory Technicians, said he ended his work with OPD over what he described as Police Chief Bryan Barrett’s failure to follow established evidence procedures.
Chief Barrett, who took over the department after the departure last May of OPD Chief Dan Birbeck, said the split reflects a difference in management philosophy rather than a breakdown in evidence handling.
The dispute comes at a critical point for the department, which spent years rebuilding its investigative credibility after a 2018 scandal that led to the conviction of former Acting Police Chief Robert Michael Cross.
Following Cross’s arrest and subsequent 10-year federal prison sentence for threatening a citizen at gunpoint, District Attorney Dee Peavy required Olney officers to route felony investigations through the Young County Sheriff ’s Office.
That restriction was lifted under Chief Birbeck, who took over in 2020 and is widely credited, along with former OPD Detective Dustin Hudson, with restoring the department’s ability to handle felony cases internally. Between 2020 and 2024, when he left OPD, Detective Hudson investigated more than 40 felony child sex abuse cases, obtaining convictions in all of them. The City Council interviewed Detective Hudson during its search last year for a new police chief.
Mr. Vasquez played a key role in that effort, training officers on how to properly collect, package, and document evidence — from narcotics to firearms to DNA — so it could withstand scrutiny in court.
Mr. Vasquez described himself as a strict enforcer of evidence standards, saying consistency in small cases is what protects larger prosecutions.
“Evidence should tell the story of the crime. It should not tell the story of the department,” Vasquez previously told the Enterprise. “If you’re missing the small stuff on the little cases, you’re going to miss it on the big cases.”
He said he routinely sent improperly packaged evidence back to officers for correction — a practice he said he felt was supported under Chief Birbeck but not under Chief Barrett.
Chief Barrett, however, said the disagreement is rooted in differing approaches to management, not a disregard for proper procedure.
Chief Barrett said Detective Matt England has been placed in charge of evidence processing on an interim basis.
Mr. Vasquez brought decades of experience in evidence management, including service as a U.S. Air Force security police officer and work with the Office of Special Investigations, the military’s equivalent of the FBI.
He later investigated attorneys for the Texas State Bar and managed evidence operations for both the Fort Worth and Wichita Falls police departments before becoming a consultant.
His work in Olney coincided with a sharp increase in the department’s caseload, which grew from roughly 300 to 1,000 cases annually.