City of Colorado Springs - Errors found in Blood Alcohol Content Results

In mid November, the Metro Crime Lab identified a problem through an internal quality assurance system related to the reporting of some blood alcohol content readings in some criminal and DUI cases. Once the problem was initially identified, an internal investigation determined that since January 2009, a number of blood alcohol content tests conducted by the Forensic Chemist Unit of the Metro Crime Lab had been erroneously reported higher than the true actual result. At the time of this writing, approximately 82 tests have been identified. During that same time frame, a total of approximately one-thousand (1000) blood alcohol content tests were accomplished by Metro Crime Lab Staff.

All of these samples are being re-analyzed by a Senior Forensic Chemist and the Metro Crime Lab is issuing amended lab reports with the corrected results to the involved criminal justice entities. The Metro Crime Lab has initiated a formal corrective action plan, and continues to investigate the root cause and full scope of the problem. To date, the Lab has a method for identifying affected cases, and has already implemented new policies and procedures to prevent the problem occurring in the future.

At the request of the CSPD, The Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) sent a representative to conduct an external and independent investigation into the possible causes of the inaccurate readings. The Colorado Springs Police Department is also simultaneously conducting an Internal Affairs investigation. In addition, the manufacturer of the device used for blood alcohol analysis, Agilent Technologies, has checked the specifications of the involved equipment and ruled out problems with the instrumentation. These inquiries are on-going.

Because they were most directly affected by this discovery, the Fourth Judicial District Attorney?s Office and the Colorado Department of Revenue were immediately notified of the problem. Both of these agencies have since received amended lab reports and are researching what impact, if any, these findings have on criminal charges as well as civil revocations of driver?s licenses. Every amended lab report sent to the District Attorney?s office has been made available in discovery. Both of these agencies are fully supportive that corrective actions are being implemented.

The Metro Crime Lab is accredited to an international standard (ISO 17025) through Forensic Quality Services-International, and is certified for Blood Alcohol Analysis by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Although the described events represent a regrettable situation, it is very important to recognize that these errors were identified because of the checks and balances of the Metro Crime Lab?s Quality Assurance Program being practiced in accordance with these valued standards.

It is fundamentally important to note that none of the other services performed by the Metro Crime Lab have been or will be affected by the problems identified. In addition to Blood Alcohol Analysis, The Metro Crime Lab engages in many other forensic disciplines, including Crime Scene Analysis and Reconstruction, Latent Fingerprint Processing and Comparisons, Blood Stain Pattern Analysis, Firearms Examinations, Fire Debris Analysis, Drug Analysis, and Forensic DNA analysis.