BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Police Department's forensic lab faces a backlog in analyzing and testing critical evidence, according to a newly released audit.
Audit results were presented to the Baltimore City Board of Estimates on Wednesday.
Blame was placed on the City's Bureau of Procurement (BOP), and their lengthy process to obtain vital laboratory products while also trying to maintain vendor agreements.
The issues negatively impacted the police department's ability to receive, process, and issue lab results in a timely manner.
This in turn caused evidence to not be ready for court trials, potentially jeopardizing cases.
The audit highlights a significant increase in case backlog last year.
That's noted in one instance where Baltimore Police borrowed supplies from another agency to continue forensic operations.
Another problem mentioned in the audit was BOP's purchase from a vendor, who was not certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As result, the product had to be returned which in turn caused further delay.
BOP indicated high staff turnover and a transition in work databases was partially to blame.
Several corrective recommendations were made to avoid similar problems in the future.
The full audit can be read here.
