15 Jun 2016
The Austin Police Department DNA lab has been shut down. A review of the reports on the subject seem to link the problem with the death of the director of the lab, although the connection is not all that clear. The official spin on the situation is that the DNA lab currently has a poorly trained staff, and is simply “behind the times,” according to Chief Art Acevedo. And for reasons that no one seems to understand, the Austin Police Department crime lab has been using outdated formulas for its DNA testing.
Interestingly, the shutdown was not really voluntary, as far as we can tell. It came after concerns about the facility were raised by the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The Commission is charged with the investigation of allegations of negligence and/or misconduct that could affect the validity or integrity of forensic analysis by any accredited lab. It is estimated by the PD that the lab situation will be resolved in a matter of months, allowing it to reopen alter this year.
A History of Problems
This isn’t the first time there has been a problem relating to the Austin PD crime lab. In fact, even a quick review of the past few years reveals other substantial issues. In one case, reported last year, the crime lab was trying to figure out how a crime scene tech’s failure to file more than 120 crime scene reports over a period of several years was not picked up by the Department, and only came to light after an audit by the Forensic Science Commission. The apparent reason why the lapse was not noticed by the lab is that at the time, it had no system in place for regular audits.
And back in 2012, we reported in our blog (Austin PD Crime Lab Under Fire) on the crime lab being caught “drylabbing” on drug analyses. That’s a fancy word for making up test results for tests that were never performed.
We’re not sure about anyone else, but we’d say there are some serious problems at the Austin PD crime lab. And as time goes on, and new problems are revealed, one wonders whether the band-aid approach being used by the Department is effective, or whether a new, more global approach, may be necessary.
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