Law enforcement resists reform, says author

            Most of law enforcement doesn’t want to accept the science behind forensic evidence, according to David A. Harris, author of “Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science.”

            “They [law enforcement] basically take the attitude that they are going to resist science,” he said last week at the Gage Gallery at 18 S. Michigan Ave.

            Harris, a writer and educator focused on law enforcement practices and national security issues, was the second speaker for the third annual Wrongful Convictions Distinguished Speaker Series, presented by Roosevelt University. He drew an audience so big that late comers sat on the floor and tables when all the chairs were used.

            “I enjoyed it and I think a lot of other people there did too,” said Daisy Perez, a Roosevelt University student who attended the lecture.

            Perez has studied forensic science and knew about some of Harris’s talking points but also learned some new things, she said.

            Harris highlighted key points of his book that is about the tense relationship between law enforcement and the field of forensic science. Although law enforcement agencies are more frequently utilizing the science now, there are still many agencies that refute the accuracies of the science, he said.

            During the lecture, Harris said that one of the challenges to reform the way law enforcement perceives the science behind forensics is to change how evidence is gathered. But law enforcement is resistant to change its practices and this is a problem, he said.

            “They ignore what science can bring them and the result of this is failed evidence,” he said.