Criminal interviews lost in MPD equipment failure, Chief Flynn explains impact

Milwaukee police are now breaking down exactly what happened to cause a massive collapse of their interview recording system, Mediasolv. They say it was not human error, interference, or a lack of storage, just an unexplained simultaneous triple failure meaning three separate data discs all randomly failed at once.

Chief Flynn explains, \"This is the first time in the history of this product there had ever been triple disc failure, we had, as you would guess double disc failure protection.\"

At issue is the possibility of losing key evidence in criminal cases. Attorney's for the man charged in the shooting death of one-year-old Bill Thao have already asked that some interviews be thrown out because of the malfunction. Chief Flynn says that won't affect the case.

\"A suspect has been identified and charged already based on evidence we have independent of those interviews.\" He added, “None of them were essential in order to bring a prosecution.\"

Nearly every one of the interviews was backed up by DVD and written statements. However seven cases, including Bill Thao's had not yet been transferred to DVD. Flynn says they still have enough evidence for criminal charges in every case

\"None of these interviews that we have not yet recovered has affected the cases, there have been no dismissals, no downgraded pleas, nothing of that sort.\"