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Task force may investigate missing felon DNA samples

Senator wants state to probe absence of 12,000 DOC profiles

A Wisconsin state senator formally requested an investigation into a Department of Justice database Friday as a result of the discovery that thousands of DNA samples had not been submitted to the statewide database.

Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, urged Gov. Jim Doyle in a letter to form a task force as a result of a DOJ announcement Sept. 16 that approximately 12,000 DNA profiles of felons were not submitted to a statewide database that contains between 120,000 and 130,000 DNA profiles.

“[The] task force would likely include the Department of Corrections, the Department of Justice, State Crime Laboratory, representatives of the court system, district attorneys, representatives of law enforcement, probation and parole officers and perhaps others,” Coggs said in the letter.

Coggs said the reason for a task force is that “finger-pointing” between the DOC and DOJ could jeopardize correction of the situation, so other parties should be involved in the investigation.

He added he believes public confidence in the state must be restored and immediate action is necessary.

The state first realized there was a problem with the database during the trial of Walter Ellis, a man suspected of nine Milwaukee killings since 1986. The DOC, which is responsible for collecting the DNA profiles, discovered there was a DNA sample submitted to the database for Ellis, but it was not his DNA.

“Samples not in the database are those yet to be collected by agencies charged with collection and submission,” said Gary Hamblin, administrator of the Division of Law Enforcement Services at the DOJ, in a statement. “Samples at the crime lab are not lost, misplaced or otherwise ‘missing.’”

The DOC is currently reviewing their protocols to discover how this problem could have happened and to learn how they can prevent it in the future, said John Dipko, spokesperson for the DOC.

“Our agency received this data Thursday from the Department of Justice and immediately began to analyze it, even as we have been reviewing and will continue to review our internal sample collection procedures and policies,” Dipko said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

Dipko also said once the DOC identifies who needs to submit DNA they will work with law enforcement to collect the samples as soon as possible. Dipko added the DOC plans to work with the DOJ to identify improvements that can be made.

Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, also expressed frustration about the current situation, but said he did not think requesting a task force was the solution.

“A task force is a nice idea when we don’t know the answer to a problem, but we do know the answer to this problem,” Vos said. “We need to make sure whoever made this mistake is fired.”

Vos said someone in the DOC was in charge of the program responsible for collecting the DNA profiles and this person knew there was a problem but ignored it.