I have been fretting about the Donald E. Gates case since I first learned about it last December. Yesterday I got a call from Sam Harahan, another person who has obviously been thinking about it quite a bit and who came across my blog entries on the case. Harahan helped found two organizations that focus on law enforcement issues in D.C.: the Council for Court Excellence and the D.C. Police Foundation. Mr. Harahan wanted to make sure I was aware of the new forensic laboratory currently being built in D.C.
Scheduled for completion in the Fall of 2011, the Consolidated Forensic Laboratory (CFL) is currently under construction at 4th and School Streets, SW. When completed, the CFL will be a 287,000-square-foot new building that houses, all under one roof, the D.C. health laboratory, the chief medical examiner, and a crime laboratory. As such, the CFL will “play a vital role in advancing and improving public safety support, homeland security and crime investigation capabilities.”
In my initial post on the Gates case, I cited the National Academy of Science recommendation on the need to preserve the scientific integrity and independence of forensic laboratories. The problem, quite simply, is that laboratory technicians and analysts are mere mortals who can’t help being influenced by the interests of their employers. Putting them under the supervision of a law enforcement agency dedicated to criminal prosecution risks perpetuating the type of abuses that led to the Gates case. In addition, as with any conflict of interest situation, it creates the appearance of impropriety that could undermine public confidence in results.
Website materials on the CFL contain a very helpful list of frequently answered questions (FAQs) that address such issues as why we need such a facility and who will use it. With respect to the crime lab, for example, the site notes that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will conduct its forensic analysis of physical evidence, including tests related to DNA, trace evidence (hair, fibers, paints, blood), documents, firearms and tool marks, finger prints, and drugs.
What the FAQs do not address is who will be in charge of the crime lab. If, as the site seems to suggest, the MPD will run the lab in addition to using it, our city will be spending well over $200 million for a state-of-the-art facility while missing an important opportunity to preserve the independence – and therefore quality – of current law enforcement efforts.
If there is anything positive to come out of the Donald Gates case, it should be that we take positive steps to prevent this type of thing from ever happening again. It is too easy to stick our heads in the sand and believe that the Gates case was a one-time occurrence that resulted from a single bad apple within the FBI. We have the data – over 100 other cases currently on review – proving to us that this just isn’t so.
It should not be too late to change any of this. First, I believe that the crime lab should be run by a neutral entity, such as another organization within the city. Second, I think the lab should be dedicated to and named after Mr. Gates. The people who work in the lab should reminded every single morning when they go to work of the horrifying injustice that can occur when they abuse the public trust. Naming the lab after Mr. Gates would also honor the amazing forgiveness he showed to the system that falsely imprisoned him for 28 years.