DESPITE FACING AN INVESTIGATION AT HPD, SHE'S PICKED UP BY THE STATE!The former DNA supervisor at Houston's troubled crime lab landed a job with the Texas Department of Public Safety even as she was under investigation — and likely to be fired — for improperly coaching analysts on proficiency tests, state officials confirmed Tuesday.
Vanessa Nelson, 33, resigned from the Houston Police Department's crime lab Jan. 10 to avoid being fired after an internal investigation concluded she had given crime lab analysts the answers they needed to pass a DNA skills test, HPD officials confirmed. Nelson led the lab's DNA division for more than two years when it reopened after the exposure of shoddy work forced its closure in 2002.
In her new job, she will run the DNA division of DPS' crime lab in McAllen, a facility with its own history of closure and deficiencies. Nelson, reached at her Houston home Tuesday, declined to comment.
Her departure forced HPD once again to suspend DNA testing, reversing years of work to bring the lab up to standard and restore public confidence.
Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman, said the department was aware of the alleged cheating but hired Nelson because she had worked for DPS before joining the Houston lab. "She was an outstanding employee then," she said, "and her supervisors expect that she will be again."
MORE @ WWW.CHRON.COM
Isn't the current head of HPD's Crime Lab (Irma Rios) the former head of the DPS Crime Lab who came to Houston just before the State found a litiny problems with thier crime lab?
ReplyDeleteWow, so much for background checks. Clearly, there is not a lot of competition for this type of job.
ReplyDeletethis is scary.
ReplyDelete