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LAPD: Fingerprint Errors Led To False Arrests

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Oct 18, 2008 9:33 am US/Pacific

LAPD: Fingerprint Errors Led To False Arrests

LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Police Department has acknowledged in a confidential report that people have been falsely implicated in crimes because the department's fingerprint experts wrongly identified them as suspects, it was reported Friday.

The 10-page internal report, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, highlighted two cases in which criminal defendants had charges against them dropped after problems with the fingerprint analysis were exposed.

Assistant Chief Sharon Papa said the problems are of "grave concern."

The LAPD is in the process of applying for a grant so that the department can hire an outside firm to review the way fingerprints are analyzed. Such a contract will cost $400,000 to $500,000, Papa said.

"We are actively seeking the funding, but in the meantime our investigation did result in some significant disciplinary action," Papa said.
"I think any organization when you have people involved, mistakes get made, work gets sloppy for whatever reason. We have put protocols in place to prevent that from happening again."

In late August 2006, the LAPD became aware of an erroneous match that the department's internal controls had failed to catch. It took LAPD officials a year to review its policies and find an outside contractor to oversee the work of analysts.

LAPD officials do not know how many other people might have been wrongly accused over the years as a result of poor fingerprint analysis and lack the funds to pay for a comprehensive audit to find out, according to police records and interviews cited by The Times.

"This is something of extraordinary concern," Michael Judge, public defender for Los Angeles County, told The Times. "Juries tend to accord the highest level of confidence to fingerprint evidence. This is the type of thing that easily could lead to innocent people being convicted."

The two cases were used by investigators to illustrate broader problems with shoddy work and poor oversight that have plagued the department's Latent Print Unit, according to The Times.

Rhonda Sims-Lewis, chief of the LAPD's administrative and technical bureau, acknowledged the findings, but told The Times changes in the unit's leadership and protocols were made last year after senior officials became aware of problems.

Internal discipline investigations led to the firing of one fingerprint analyst, who had been involved in both of the mishandled cases, The Times reported.

Three other analysts received suspensions, Sims-Lewis told the newspaper, and two supervisors responsible for overseeing the unit were replaced, staff was bolstered and oversight was tightened.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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