State police review crime lab fingerprint analysis

In a tersely worded statement, Illinois State Police say an annual quality assurance review raised questions about fingerprint analysis performed by one of the ISP crime lab’s forensic scientists.

The revelation prompted a comprehensive review that could take several weeks to several months to complete, said spokeswoman Monique Bond, adding that the employee has been reassigned pending completion of the review.

Affected counties include Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will, Kankakee, LaSalle and Livingston, Bond said. She declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding the review.

State police have been “working with affected state’s attorney offices to address any potential impact to criminal cases,” she said.

Paul Darrah, DuPage County State’s Attorney spokesman, said a “handful of DuPage County cases” could be affected. DuPage prosecutors are in the process of identifying the cases involved and whether they are felonies or misdemeanors, said Darrah, adding the office will “take appropriate action” following its investigation.

Darrah declined to speculate on what that action would be.

Cook County State’s Attorney spokeswoman Sally Daly said prosecutors are completing “ a case-by-case analysis of cases this particular analyst worked on to ensure there are no issues or problems with the evidence itself.”

“Anytime there is a question about the chain of custody or problematic practices with evidence, it raises a concern with us as prosecutors,” Daly said.

State police officials have not determined what types of cases are involved and whether the cases have been resolved or if they still pending, Bond said. However Bond said the cases do not involve the misidentification of any fingerprints.

“The main thing is we have this safety net and these safeguards in place,” she said.