Much to the disappointment of the city’s accused felons, the Lincoln Police Department’s evidence room survived the flood.

In the hectic hours after an underground water line burst and sent water flowing into the lower level of the Hall of Justice Sept. 14, law enforcement personnel scrambled to save computers, files and equipment from damage. But one quick-thinking property clerk realized unlike some things, evidence can’t be replaced.

“We have hundreds of thousands of items of evidence in a complex storage system,” Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said Tuesday. “We didn’t lose a single item.”

The clerk who preserved the evidence is Dianne Campbell, a 15-year veteran of the department. When she arrived at the building at 575 S. 10th St., at about 7:30 p.m., she found just a little water on the floor.

She did a quick inspection of the evidence room, which stores carefully tagged and marked items in moveable bins and shelves. By the time she got back to the room’s door, the water was about ankle-deep on her pair of rubber boots.

“I was really concerned about how fast it was coming in,” she said.

Using a flashlight to see, she spent the next hour moving items from the bottom shelves to higher storage. She estimated she moved about 100 items — everything from clothing to empty beer bottles to stereo equipment and knives.

At the same time, Pam Fittje, manager of the evidence division, made sure human fluids and DNA samples, which must be refrigerated or frozen, were preserved. In fact, after the building lost power, she used her personal credit card to buy a freezer that could run on a portable generator to protect the samples.

Meanwhile, other civilian staff and police officers did the same with computer equipment, case files, uniforms, cameras, police radios and just about anything of value. Casady said the effort saved an estimated $1 million worth of equipment.

But he sounded most proud of the fact that no evidence was lost.

Physical evidence is crucial to many criminal prosecutions, especially to murders and sexual assaults. In many cases, the department must retain the evidence even after the perpetrator is convicted and imprisoned.

On Tuesday, displaced investigators from the police department and Lancaster County Sheriff’s office continued to work in makeshift offices on the building’s first floor. Patrol officers for both agencies, as well as 911 operators, continued working from backup locations.

Casady and Sheriff Terry Wagner said they are pleased with the recovery’s progress. Considering the water, humidity and mud that covered much of the 40,000-square-foot ground floor Thursday, much has been accomplished.

But Casady said he’s telling staff they will probably remain displaced for a month or two. If they get back in the ground floor sooner, he’ll be pleasantly surprised.

In other developments Tuesday at the Hall of Justice:

* Elevator technicians got one elevator working again.

* Public health authorities declared the building’s water safe to drink.

The next priority will be to restore another public elevator and one of the two elevators used to move prisoners from jail to court, said Don Killeen, administrator of the Public Building Commission.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.