After Mistake by Baltimore Firearms Examiner, Nine Months of Work Scrapped
An error concerning the swabbing of evidence has invalidated the work of a veteran firearms examiner working for a Baltimore police crime lab, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Landwebs
Nine months’ worth of work by a veteran firearms examiner working for a Baltimore police crime lab has been compromised and can no longer be used for analysis, according to the Baltimore Sun. Lindsey Eldridge, the police department’s chief spokeswoman, said an error concerning the swabbing of evidence on firearms was discovered in the examiner’s work in April. An investigation determined the error was isolated to one examiner, but concluded that “months of work are now unusable.”
Eldridge later said the firearms can be re-swabbed for evidence “if necessary.” But experts say re-swabbing the weapons may be difficult, because firearms are swabbed for DNA and then handled by the examiner for a test-firing. The examiner, who was placed on leave, has been identified as Victor Meinhardt, a 30-year veteran of the crime laboratory. Zy Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, said they “recently became aware of BPD’s findings and are currently in the process of evaluating whether it has any material impact on our cases.”
