By Chrisleen Herard
Special to the AFRO
Fraudulent behavior led to D.C.’s Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) losing accreditation. The crime lab has partially regained credibility on Dec. 26, 2023, as the biology and chemistry units seek to regain their ability to process evidence and conduct forensic testing.
It remains unclear when the firearm unit will return, even as the ongoing issue of illegal guns and violent crime continues to disturb life in the District.
“I am pleased to announce that the Department of Forensic Sciences’ (DFS) application for reaccreditation of its Forensic Biology and Forensic Chemistry Units has been approved,” Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-D.C.) wrote in a statement on Dec. 26, 2023. “Responsible for testing and analyzing biological substances, including DNA, controlled substances and drugs, these reaccredited units will support MPD investigations and will add to our existing network of outside labs as well as those accessible by the U.S. Attorney.”
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB) discovered that the D.C. crime lab inaccurately linked casings from two 2015 murders to the same gun before allegedly attempting to cover up their mistake. It was this case, among other concerns of mishandled evidence analysis, that prevented the lab from testing evidence for nearly three years.
As a partial result, this prevented 67 percent of criminal cases from being prosecuted in 2022, according to D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and the U.S. Attorneys’ annual statistical report.
“DFS is D.C.’s independent forensic laboratory that conducted the DNA, fingerprint, firearms and drug testing for the vast majority of our Office’s criminal cases,” Graves said in a hearing before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on May 16, 2023. “The forensics laboratory on which we relied was no longer permitted to perform scientific work and we could no longer rely on DFS’s expert opinions in our pending cases. Forensic evidence is a cornerstone of most violent crime prosecutions and it is difficult to overstate the catastrophic effect of DFS’s loss of accreditation.”
Graves went on to reveal the considerable amount of resources that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had to utilize in place of the DFS due to its suspension, including hiring and paying private laboratories to test evidence and experts to testify in court. Without DFS in the nation’s capital, the District could no longer test drug evidence in felony cases or produce firearm examinations in shooting cases unless provided with outside assistance that required more time and funds. This consequently affected Graves’ ability to constructively indict suspects involved in serious crimes.
In 2023, 56 percent of criminal cases were not prosecuted in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2023 after D.C. reported nearly 4,000 violent crimes, 1,387 of which included assaults with a dangerous weapon. Although the reaccreditation of the biology and chemistry units show progress for the lab, as violent crime surges, the use of D.C.’s DFS firearm unit is a prominent piece in prosecuting defendants who are charged in shooting cases, especially as it relates to the testing and tracking of unregulated guns.
“D.C. has also experienced, consistent with national trends, massive spikes in machine gun conversion switches and privately manufactured firearms, which are commonly referred to as ‘ghost guns.’ D.C. went from single-digit ghost gun recoveries in 2018 to 461 ghost gun recoveries in 2022,” Graves said. “We are concerned with the increases in these categories of violent crimes, grieving every loss of life in this city and recognizing that one homicide is one too many.”
In 2020, Attorney General Karl A. Racine filed a lawsuit on behalf of D.C. against Polymer80 Inc., a firearm manufacturer known to sell kits containing partially assembled handguns and semi-automatic rifles without serial numbers, making them untraceable and accessible for many, including juveniles, to construct in the comfort of their homes.
It was ultimately discovered that the guns produced using Polymer80’s kits were involved in several homicides in the District as well as the growing number of ghost guns that have been recovered by authorities. In order to prevent them from selling unregulated guns to D.C. consumers, Racine sued the Nevada-based gun manufacturing company and, in 2022, won the lawsuit against Polymer80, who was ordered to pay $4 million in penalties.
“This judgment against Polymer80 is a major victory for D.C. residents and for public safety and it will help slow the flow of deadly, untraceable ghost guns into our community,” Racine said in a statement. “As the District continues to face an epidemic of gun violence, our office will do everything in our power to keep D.C. residents safe.”
That same year, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D-Md.) also sought out Polymer80 in a lawsuit due to the company accounting for 91 percent of all seized ghost guns in the city. Mayor Scott’s need for retrieving ghost guns has intensified, however, following the Brooklyn mass shooting that took place in July 2023, which claimed two lives and injured 28 others, including 15 minors.
“You’re talking about a country where it’s easier for a 14-year-old kid to order pieces together, to put a gun together and go out and use it and commit a crime than it is for me to get Claritin-D from CVS,” Mayor Scott said during a news conference. “People are dying in Baltimore and the United States, and that’s what should matter and that’s what we should be acting on every day.”
Though Polymer80 accounted for some of the ghost guns recovered in D.C. and throughout the country, there is still a percentage of illegal firearms that remain unaccounted for.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is pleased that DFS has regained its ANAB accreditation in two forensic science units, a critical first step in rebuilding the lab,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Accreditation is an important mile marker in the journey toward having testifying experts again. We look forward to DFS completing the journey in the coming years and we are prepared to provide whatever support we can in these efforts.”
While D.C. public servants are celebrating the DFS’ partial accreditation, they continue to work toward acquiring licenses for the firearm division and the remainder of the department’s units to combat the wave of illegal weapons and violent crime that has been sweeping over the District.
“We remain focused on reducing crime and that means ensuring all parts of our public safety and justice ecosystem are working at full capacity,” Mayor Bowser said. “Reaccreditation is a critical step in supporting case closure and affording us another tool to advance justice for victims.”