Saga Police to Face Special Probe over Faulty DNA Analyses

Tokyo, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s National Police Agency said Thursday that it will conduct a special inspection of the Saga prefectural police department after a former employee at its crime laboratory was found to have repeatedly falsified DNA analysis. The NPA will dispatch its chief inspector and others to the police department in the southwestern Japanese prefecture on Wednesday to analyze the cause of the improper DNA analyses and check how preventive measures are being implemented. The former employee in question was referred to prosecutors last month for allegedly fabricating DNA analyses and falsifying analysis dates in 130 cases over roughly seven years. He was given a disciplinary dismissal. Special inspections are carried out at the order of the NPA commissioner-general in cases of serious scandals at prefectural police departments. The latest special inspection is the fifth on record, with past cases including a probe of the Kagoshima prefectural police department last June following an information leak scandal. The special inspection is expected to cover the Saga police department’s criminal division, particularly the crime lab, and the administration division including the education and training unit. An official in charge of DNA analysis at the National Research Institute of Police Science is expected to accompany the NPA chief inspector and an official from the agency’s criminal affairs bureau in the probe. The experts will review the results of an investigation into the issue, preventive measures and the Saga prefecture police’s DNA analysis system. The NPA has urged police departments nationwide to thoroughly check with multiple personnel the results of their DNA analyses, in light of the Saga incident. It plans to inspect crime lab operations across the country as early as next fiscal year to check analysis systems. “We take the matter seriously as it undermines the public’s trust in DNA analysis,” NPA Commissioner-General Yoshinobu Kusunoki told a press conference Thursday. “We’ll work to prevent a recurrence by ensuring that countermeasures are implemented.” Meanwhile, the Saga prefectural assembly the same day unanimously passed a resolution calling for an investigation by a third-party organization and the formation of specific measures to prevent a recurrence. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]