ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO-WCCO) — Data entry errors in DWI testing equipment may impact at least 277 cases and have prompted the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to order a statewide inspection of the instruments.
According to the BCA, “trained operators” discovered the errors while installing gas cylinders in DataMaster instruments, which are breath testing machines.
“Each DMT instrument holds a uniquely numbered dry gas cylinder with a known alcohol concentration, which serves as a control during every test to ensure the instrument is measuring alcohol accurately,” the BCA said in a news release on Friday.
When a machine is first set up, law enforcement officers enter information from the cylinder into the system, according to the BCA. That information is then used for all breath tests until the cylinder is replaced, at which point information from the new cylinder must be entered.
“It was recently discovered that, in some cases, incorrect cylinder information had been entered into the instrument, resulting in test data being called into question,” the BCA said.
The data errors may impact 108 cases in Olmsted County, 73 in Aitkin County, 45 in Winona County, 38 in Hennepin County and 13 in Chippewa County, according to officials.
The BCA said the machines aren’t allowed to be used again until agencies “review and verify dry gas cylinder data has been entered correctly.”
The state agency added that it will be conducting all gas cylinder replacements and maintenance moving forward, and will be updating maintenance procedures to prevent more errors.
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