This will teach 'em not to use the term 'twinned loop'!
This never would've happend if we were using Vucetich's Classification System
AFIS?! We don't need no stinkin' AFIS
Bertillionage, unlike the south, will rise again
RS&A: All your case are belong to us.
How to win an NIJ grant in 517 easy steps.
http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/fing ... 84436.html
Jul 1, 2010 9:59 pm US/Mountain
Investigation Reveals Fingerprint ID Flaws At DPD
Written by Brian Maass
A CBS4 Investigation has learned that one fingerprint identification technician in the Denver Police Department's Identification Bureau has been fired, a second has resigned in the face of disciplinary action and a third was recently suspended, after audits revealed the fingerprint technicians have been making hundreds if not thousands of mistakes in classifying fingerprints.
"This infuriates me, it really does," said Dianna Taylor, a Colorado Springs forensics consultant who formerly ran a law enforcement crime lab in Florida.
Taylor has provided expert testimony in court cases regarding fingerprint identification.
After reviewing the Denver Department of Safety audit obtained by CBS4, Taylor said,"I'm really beside myself. This is horrid. And what's really scary is there could be people sitting in jail who shouldn't be there."
Civilian employees, known as fingerprint identification technicians in the DPD Identification Section, are tasked with using fingerprints to help identify anyone arrested in Denver. Records obtained by CBS4 show that the city fired one of those technicians, Edward "Russell" Harris December 24, 2009 for intentionally by-passing procedures designed to verify fingerprint accuracy 25 times in a four month period.
Records also show that the city found Harris falsified critical fingerprint logs 517 times in a two month period indicating fingerprints had been double checked for accuracy, when they were not. Harris declined to discuss his work or his firing when contacted by CBS4. However, employment evaluations over the last two years showed Harris was graded as 'exceptional' in his work.
Taylor said Harris put untold numbers of people in harms way by circumventing safeguards and verification procedures.
"Fingerprints are evidence. Those are the most important things in the Police Department; evidence that should be protected with everything they've got. But we've got people who corrupted a system. That's serious," said Taylor.
Based on what was found, the police department conducted an expanded audit of Harris' fingerprint work. Authorities said they found what they characterized as 'major' mistakes with fingerprints misclassified in July, Aug. and Sept. 2009. The audit checked 152 fingerprint cards Harris worked on in that three month period and found 65 mistakes, constituting an 'error rate' of 43 percent.
"There's no excuse for having an error rate. There shouldn't be one," said Taylor.
She said with oversight and multiple verifications, there should be no errors in classifying fingerprints.
"If you've got another person looking at those cards there should be no error rate," said Taylor.
According to a dismissal letter sent from Deputy Manager of Safety Mary Malatesta to Harris, his failure to properly classify fingerprints "... can have serious ramifications including the wrong person being arrested based upon a DPD misclassification."
But CBS4 found the problems extend beyond Edward Harris. According to multiple sources familiar with problems in the Denver Police Department's Identification Bureau, authorities recently audited the work of another veteran fingerprint technician, Alfred Cardenas, who has worked for the City since 1992.
Those same sources confirmed that the audit of Cardenas fingerprint classifications found an error rate of approximately 87 percent. The Police Department suspended Cardenas in late May.
Sources said Cardenas received a written reprimand and is now back on the job.
"That even makes the hair on my neck stand up," said Taylor when asked about the error rate. "And it should for everybody. Thats just wrong."
Via e-mail, Cardenas told CBS4 he would not comment on his error rate or any other questions regarding his employment as a fingerprint technician.
A third fingerprint technician, Shannon Clementi, was suspended in November of 2009 for copying fingerprint records and taking them home. Clementi resigned before any additional disciplinary actions could be taken against her.
She returned the records to the Denver Police Department and said she took them to protect herself, Harris, Cardenas and other civilian fingerprint technicians. She said the records she took showed all fingerprint technicians are making mistakes every day.
"Are we saying a lot of mistakes and errors have been made up there?," Clementi was asked on camera. "Absolutely," she responded.
Clementi contended the errors being made are minor and would not lead to the wrong person being jailed. But she said the mistakes are so numerous the Department has a mistake box in the Identification Bureau where technicians file records of fingerprint mistakes they have made, or discovered. She said the box is filled up on a daily basis.
Clementi insists the department's recent audits of Cardenas and Harris were flawed and "politically motivated," initiated as retaliation for complaints the civilian workers had made about uniformed police officers who supervise the civilians.
"It's all built up hype… sensationalized," Clementi said of the spot checks that have found high error rates. "If they did the same type of audit they'd have to fire every fingerprint technician they have."
Asked how often her work was checked or audited by supervisors, Clementi said, "never."
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union are now watching this case closely. The ACLU has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the City of Denver and its police department on behalf of seven men and women who were mistakenly arrested and jailed, sometimes for weeks.
ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein said the city made no mention of the reported fraud, mistakes and inaccuracy in the identification bureau during the ongoing lawsuit. ACLU lawyers only became aware of the fingerprint flaws when they were approached by CBS4.
"It certainly raises plenty of questions," Silverstein said after reviewing the documents and information obtained by CBS4. "If those are serious mistakes and the kind that could lead to the arrest of the wrong or innocent person, those are very serious consequences and certainly calls for as complete and thorough an investigation as can be mounted. Those reports of that many errors and mistakes are very disturbing and raises questions about to what degree there is adequate guidance and supervision and checks on the tasks these employees were performing."
The Denver Police Department declined to allow CBS4 to videotape any fingerprint operations, stating the identification bureau was not open to the public and the department refused to allow CBS4 to speak to supervisors in the identification bureau.
However, Sonny Jackson, a Denver police spokesperson, affirmed the problems revealed in the CBS4 investigation, "we're looking at our system in a detailed fashion right now to see if there are error rates and we're taking measures to correct. Any time you have an error it concerns you. We'd be remiss to not say any error is a concern of ours."
Jackson said he was unaware of the 43 percent error rate attributed to Edward Harris and the even higher error rate attributed to Alfred Cardenas.
"I don't know about those figures. I've not heard that," said Jackson.
Jackson said the department is unaware of anyone being jailed or set free due to an error in fingerprint classification. He said DPD is exploring acquiring automated systems to improve accuracy.
