Crime Lab Neglected 16,000 Cases

Source: The Boston Globe

Evidence samples from thousands of crime scenes across Massachusetts, including nearly 1,000 homicides and other deaths and 6,500 sexual assaults, were never analyzed by the State Police crime lab, according to an investigation of the lab ordered by the state.

The lab's failure to process potentially crucial DNA evidence from 16,000 cases means that killers and rapists could be walking free, said two law enforcement officials who have seen the report. The backlog of samples, found in a refrigerated room at the Maynard laboratory, dates to the 1980s and is "of crisis proportions," the report said. The backlog is far greater than previously disclosed; lab administrators had acknowledged a backlog of only about 2,000 cases.

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"The degree to which this report demonstrates a disturbing lack of oversight at the crime lab during previous administrations is deeply troubling," said one official. "The Patrick administration has said it plans to continue its overhaul of the lab and quickly implement many of the recommendations of the report as well as aggressively address the unacceptable backlog that was created by negligent oversight."

The Patrick administration will likely hire a private company and spend as much as $6 million to analyze samples from cases where the statute of limitations has not expired, said the official. State public safety officials will also contact police departments and prosecutors to determine if there are cold cases that they may now be able to solve. The analysis could involve thousands of cases, according to the official.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/15/crime_lab_neglected_16000_cases/

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Even in our most liberal Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this is what happens when Republicans hold the executive branch of government for 16 years. The incompetence is staggering.

In the horrible (but not unlikely) event that the MittFlopper becomes the Republican nominee for president, I hope that this gts lots of national press.

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"The Patrick administration will likely hire a private company..."

to see if he was cheating on her.

I think that the evidence is clear - in the U.S., governments don't care about rapes and murders of ordinary people. They care a lot more about property theft.