CSI Detroit

Detroit Police Lab Is Closed After Audit Finds Serious Errors

DETROIT — "The Police Department here shut down its crime laboratory on Thursday after an audit uncovered serious errors in numerous cases. The audit said sloppy work had probably resulted in wrongful convictions, and officials expect a wave of appeals in cases that the laboratory processed.

The audit, conducted by the State Police, was initiated in May by Ella Bully-Cummings, the Detroit police chief at the time. Ms. Bully-Cummings, who retired this month, had halted firearms work at the laboratory after questions were raised about the handling of evidence in one of the city’s most notorious unsolved murder cases, the 2003 killing of an exotic dancer. The inspection found that the laboratory’s firearms unit was in compliance with just 42 percent of “essential standards,” which are criteria that fundamentally affect the outcome of work there. Accreditation requires 100 percent compliance. In addition, auditors re-examined 200 randomly selected shooting cases and found serious errors in 19. The laboratory handles about 1,800 shooting cases a year, they said."

Ah hell. Hows a little fudging the results gonna hurt. Detroit's crime rate is out of control...just have a look-see at the murder stats...so doing things right the first time around probably isn't possible what with the sheer volume of work. All across the world, pretty much the same sort of folks commit the same sort of crime so focus on them. Might not be a bad idea to go back to the old style of law enforcement where one didn't need a slew of geeks in lab coats to figure out whodunit.