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Dallas County data-entry errors could lead to more wrongful arrests like Walter Rothgery's

Why should anyone care if the Dallas County Sheriff has flaws in its data entry for crime reporting or allows uncredentialed people from using the system? You might ask Walter Rothgery, the Gillespie County defendant who was falsely accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm when he had no prior felony conviction. (His arrest and the denial of an attorney to defend against those false charges just led to a new Supreme Court ruling.)The Dallas News last week ("Audit reveals flaws in how how Dallas County Sheriff's Department uses state, federal databases," June 19) detailed similar data entry problems in Dallas County to the one that led to falsely accusing Mr. Rothgery and launching his federal civil rights case. Reported the News:A state audit of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department's use of state and federal criminal justice databases revealed a lack of required training as well as some inaccurate records...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).