QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Masahiro Tamura, former president of the National Police Academy and now a professor of police administrative law at Kyoto Sangyo University, said such highly malicious misconduct could undermine public trust in DNA analyses. “Pretending to have conducted tests that were not actually performed may have resulted in lost opportunities to obtain accurate evidence,” Tamura said. “DNA evidence can sometimes become critical in uncovering the truth long after the crime occurs.” He stressed that the essence of DNA testing is to record objective facts, and that everything, including factors that do not directly affect the test results, must be properly written down. “Police forensic science labs tend to be a closed environment compared to other departments, due to infrequent personnel transfers,” Tamura said. “Efforts must be made to create a work environment where members feel free to speak up regardless of their positions.”
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STORY: "Police: Forensic analyst sacked for repeatedly faking DNA tests," by Shohei Okada and Kiriko Nemoto, published by The Asahi Shimbum, on September 9, 2025.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Toshihiko Inoue, head inspection officer of the Saga prefectural police, apologizes at a news conference in Saga on Sept. 8."
GIST: A forensic DNA analyst here was fired for committing more than 100 acts of misconduct, including fabricating reports about DNA tests that he never performed, Saga prefectural police said on Sept. 8.
They said they have sent papers to prosecutors on the individual on suspicion of falsifying official documents and destroying evidence.
Senior police officials said the dismissed analyst’s misconduct at the department’s forensic science lab did not affect the actual investigations or trials of suspects.
The forensic analyst now in his 40s was hired in 2012 and was tasked with handling 632 DNA analyses.
An internal investigation found that 130 of these cases assigned since 2017 were conducted inappropriately.
He falsely reported that DNA testing had been completed in nine of the cases, although no testing actually took place. For these cases, he fabricated reports to say that no DNA was detected, police sources said.
“I thought the process would be finished more quickly that way,” the analyst reportedly said.
In four other cases, the analyst lost leftover forensic materials, such as gauze, after the DNA testing and “returned” substitute items to police stations, the sources said.
Prefectural police regarded those 13 cases as particularly malicious and referred them to prosecutors.
Other inappropriate actions included recording incorrect dates on official documents.
The issue came to light in October last year after the analyst’s supervisor noticed flaws in his documents.
Prefectural police conducted DNA testing again in 124 cases for which evidence was still available. The tests found discrepancies from the initial results in eight of these cases.
However, none of tests in the eight cases led to a positive identification, so police concluded “the investigations were not affected” by the analyst’s misconduct.
Sixteen cases handled by the analyst were submitted to the public prosecutors office. But his misconduct did not affect the DNA test results.
“There has been no impact on trials,” a senior officer said.
POSSIBLE LOST EVIDENCE
Masahiro Tamura, former president of the National Police Academy and now a professor of police administrative law at Kyoto Sangyo University, said such highly malicious misconduct could undermine public trust in DNA analyses.
“Pretending to have conducted tests that were not actually performed may have resulted in lost opportunities to obtain accurate evidence,” Tamura said. “DNA evidence can sometimes become critical in uncovering the truth long after the crime occurs.”
He stressed that the essence of DNA testing is to record objective facts, and that everything, including factors that do not directly affect the test results, must be properly written down.
“Police forensic science labs tend to be a closed environment compared to other departments, due to infrequent personnel transfers,” Tamura said. “Efforts must be made to create a work environment where members feel free to speak up regardless of their positions.”
(This article was written by Shohei Okada and Kiriko Nemoto.)"
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16017256
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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