In a recent report released by the Justice Department’s inspector general, flaws were found in the FBI’s procedures for handling evidence after an officer-involved shooting in 2016. The investigation began after the actions of FBI agents were questioned following a fatal standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge.
The report, released on Tuesday, concluded that shooting incident policies should be updated to address crime scene management and situations when the Justice Department is working with a state or local law enforcement partner. The investigation stemmed from the fatal shooting of LaVoy Finicum, who was killed by Oregon State Police during a standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Although Finicum was killed by state police, investigators later found that two FBI agents also shot at Finicum during the incident. The agents were interviewed multiple times in the days after the shooting and failed to disclose that they fired shots. One of the agents was later tried for lying to investigators and acquitted by a federal jury.
According to the inspector general, since the fatal shot was fired by an Oregon State Police officer, state and local law enforcement personnel took control of the scene from the beginning and conducted the shooting investigation. However, aerial surveillance video taken by an FBI plane shortly after the shooting showed FBI personnel moving around the scene and appearing to pick up objects from the roadway.
The report noted that FBI personnel are authorized to remove items from the crime scene once it is secure and there has not been a critical incident involving an FBI agent. The inspector general recommended updates to FBI crime scene management procedures to explicitly apply to investigations led by state or local law enforcement where no FBI agent is believed to have fired their weapon.
