MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced it found more than 200 data errors within the DWI testing instrument used by local law enforcement agencies and ordered an immediate statewide inspection of the tools.
According to the BCA, multiple “data entry errors” by trained operators have occurred, resulting in test data being called into question.
The errors have been reported in Hennepin, Aitkin, Olmsted, Winona and Chippewa counties.
“The BCA is committed to the highest level of quality in our forensics lab, and this is why we are conducting this review,” said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, in a statement.
The BCA is also taking over the replacement and maintenance of the tool due to the “potential of human error.”
“It’s a systemic problem and that starts at the top, at the state crime lab,” said Criminal Defense Attorney Chuck Ramsay. Ramsay noticed this problem back in August when he discovered the control serial number documented for the breathalyzer test conducted on his client did not match the serial number on the test actually used.
The tools in question are DataMaster instruments, which are used by “Select Minnesota law enforcement personnel,” who are trained on administering breath tests and maintaining the instrument during impaired driving enforcement.
The instrument holds a unique numbered cylinder with a known alcohol concentration, which serves as a control for the test. When the tool is initially set up, the trained personnel are supposed to enter information from the cylinder into the system.
However, the BCA found that in multiple cases, incorrect information had been entered into the system, “resulting in test data being called into question.”
“Without having the proper control, we can’t look and try to figure out what their actual alcohol concentration actually was,” Ramsay said. “I have been inundated with literally hundreds of cases showing that the police used the wrong control sample.”
The BCA says more than 200 tests in Aitkin, Hennepin, Olmstead, Winona and Chippewa counties were discovered to have been administered with incorrect information.
