More information is coming out about the thousands of uncategorized files held by the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
Instead of the 52,000 uncategorized files originally reported, the number is, in fact, much higher, new revelations indicate.
Around 89,000 police videos have been improperly labeled since 2016, according to a memo that was sent to members of the Public Safety Committee last week.
District Attorney John Creuzot spoke on the record to reporters about the matter.
“I think that there’s a high likelihood that much of this data will not impact the outcome of the case. I think that there will be some that will impact the outcome, and we’ll have to be responsible toward that. We’re here to make sure that the right thing is done,” said Creuzot, per NBC 5 DFW.
The Dallas Express reached out to Lynn Richardson, Dallas’ chief public defender, for comment but received no response by the time of publication.
Other defense lawyers have spoken up about Creuzot’s comments, however.
“We’re kind of stuck not knowing and so is the prosecutor frankly,” said Brad Lollar, an assistant public defender who spoke to NBC 5.
Lollar spoke about a murder and robbery case from 2021 in which Kobe Mascorro was killed on South Barry Street in Dallas.
Body cam footage of the arrest of Tyle Ingram, a defendant in the case, might have been destroyed, according to Lollar.
“And that has apparently been destroyed. So, we’re considering what to do about that. We don’t think it will affect the case, but we want to make sure before we do anything,” said Lollar.
Creuzot is encouraging attorneys to file new motions if necessary.
“If they file a motion for a new trial, we encourage them to do so if they think that is appropriate. But we’re going to do our job and look at it to see whether or not it was of such a quality that it should have a bearing on whether or not a person gets a new trial,” said Creuzot.
Police have ONLY one job to do according to the Supreme Court. Investigate and arrest. This means that their records MUST BE correct, safe, secure, and truthful.
If the police are losing evidence, improperly labeling it, and making it unavailable to defense, then the police are out of control and need to be sanctioned.
The first sanction MUST BE that the head of the departments involved and the officers involved in mis-labeling and mis-handling need to lose their jobs. The persons who designed the systems need to lose their jobs. It is too late for retraining.
There must be a quality assurance system that provides procedures and methods for all documentation and storage of such. Whoever was responsible for writing, monitoring and assuring compliance needs to lose their jobs. This includes everyone to the highest level and the lowest levels involved.
Even small companies do not allow this kind of thing to happen at all. When taxpayers spend billions on policing, they expect that some professionalism be involved. This has been proven to not be the case at all.. Heads need to roll.
John Creuzot finds another way to “let em go free”
Pretty soon, Dallas will be just like every other blue city as regards policing. Austin is already there.