A new report reveals that 100 people were wrongfully arrested in St. Louis over a seven-year period. According to the report, this resulted in a combined 2,000 hours of erroneous prison time during that span.
Worse, the incorrect imprisonment is the fruit of mistakes on the behalf of law enforcement. This includes failing to verify the identities of the individuals arrested, and ignoring fingerprint reports suggesting they had either arrested someone who used an alias or the wrong person altogether.
On another level, they allegedly downplayed instances where their mistakes led to wrongful arrests or failed to correct their errors, leading to recurring wrongful arrests.
Law enforcement officials claim that police officers in St. Louis arrest 30,000 people annually and that the mistakes were extremely rare.
The American Civil Liberties Union isn't having it. "To say we are a large city and mistakes will happen as if that justifies a depravation of liberty is simply incorrect," said Eastern Missouri executive director Jeffrey Mittman.
[via The Huffington Post]
