A Bundle of Blogs: On bias in forensic work

I thought to gather these blogs together after posting the first one on bias in police work. There are good references attached to some of blogs.

Bias is alive and well and lurking in the shadows but, almost without exception, not deliberate by forensic workers.

  1. Is bias alive and well in police investigation? Posted September 20, 2022 This blog explains sneaky, implicit bias and offers some comment on how to deal with it plus some references. I’m certain the police officer’s comment prompting the blog was of the sneaky kind – he just didn’t know he’d been had.
  2. Ridding peer review of potential bias. Posted December 30, 2019 You have a choice on how to do this as explained in the blog. The six (6) choices go from best to least. There are also a few good references referred to in the blog.
  3. Are experts being broadsided by bias, unbeknownst to them? Posted April 12, 2018 I summarize bias as explained by three Toronto police officers at the two day Expert Witness Forum East in 2018. They identified eight (8) categories of bias relevant to forensic work then focused on two. Examples of bias are given including a serious one in Nova Scotia. This was a good conference; I was pleased to be invited to give a talk on the Principles Governing Cost Control in forensic work. (Ref. 1)
  4. Expert witness forum looks at bias and other touchy subjects in forensic work. Posted March 8, 2018 I give a brief summary of what took place at this conference and elaborate later in a detailed blog in April, 2018 (Item #3 above). I think what I was doing with this blog back in March, 2018 was giving readers a heads-up as soon as possible of a good conference. The blog does inform on bias and is worth taking a look.
  5. Biased experts cured with a soak in the “hot tub”. Posted January 31, 2017 This is a good read on an excellent method for ridding dispute resolution and insurance claim settlement of bias. The great success with this method in Australia, and the watchful eyes of newspapers like The National Post, will make it happen.
  6. Would I be perceived as biased? Posted July 2, 2014 I raise an interesting question in this blog: Would I beĀ perceivedĀ as biased if I told counsel about literature that discusses both the technical and non-technical issues – including legal issues – of a problem in the built environment? Particularly if the literature proved to be of considerable legal interest and little or no technical interest. Hmmm? The question came up on the occasion of my researching the literature on the properties of a material used in construction in the built environment.

References

  1. Principles governing the cost control of dispute resolution and claim settlement involving experts. Posted July 30, 2019 with updates added September 24, 2020, March 18, 2021 and December 30, 2021.

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. September 27, 2022 ejorden@eastlink.ca)   

Is bias alive and well in police investigation?

I wondered this when I overheard a police officer comment, “The truth is somewhere in between”. He was investigating an incident and getting statements from different parties about what happened. Based on his comment, there didn’t seem to be any room in his thinking for one party’s view to be correct about what happened. I can’t say if he came with that mind-set – that’s the way all police officer’s think – or just how he thinks.

His comment is an example of implicit bias as discussed in depth by three Toronto police officers at an expert witness conference. (Refs 1, 2) The officers described implicit bias and explained how to deal with it. The two days of lectures on bias were excellent.

(I attended this conference and gave an invited talk on the principles governing cost control in dispute resolution. (Ref. 3)

Implicit can be defined as capable of being understood from something else though unexpressed. (Ref. 4) The problem is the something else is not explained. Is it reliable or no?

If the something else is the result of an analysis of the evidence leading to a conclusion like the “truth is in the middle”, that’s fine. But, generally, police officers on-the-run are not analysing evidence, they’re focusing on collecting it for analysis later by others.

And analysis itself is an exacting process. Think the scientific method. Also the two year course on data analysis offered by a college in Ontario – that’s two years learning the principles of data and evidence analysis. (Ref. 5)

I met a Nigerian chap who is in Canada enrolled in the two year course. He’s learning how to analyse data, facts and evidence to see where they lead. I mentioned the scientific method and he was quick to acknowledge that was part of it. I don’t think the police train like this, as a rule, to analyse evidence and statements by parties to an incident to see where the truth lies.

I’m certain police officers are trained in the collection of evidence, and analyzing it on-the-go in some situations. Witness what went on in Saskatchewan as I was writing this – police officers were analyzing evidence on-the-fly trying to find a mass murderer. But analyzing evidence as they collect it is not the rule.

You collect and analyse evidence by being thorough and objective, and on guard against implicit bias – a cardinal rule in forensic engineering investigation as carried out by experts.

We deal with implicit bias according to the Toronto police by: (Ref. 1)

  1. Understanding implicit bias
  2. Identifying the bias
  3. Reducing it
  4. Mitigating for the bias of your audience

***

I think implicit bias is alive and well but well suppressed by investigating police officers. It just manages to poke it’s head up from time to time. Bias saw the light of day for a moment in the comment by the chap I chanced to overhear but it’s not the rule. I know this to be true – police objectivity – from my 19 years volunteering with a police victim services unit and working with police officers.

References

  1. Virji, Aly, Staff Sergeant and Moosi, S. Ali, Constable, Toronto Police Service, Addressing Implicit Bias On and Off the Stand, 3rd Annual Expert Witness Forum East, Toronto, February 27, 2018
  2. Duncan, Peter, Instructor, Toronto Police Service, Addressing Implicit Bias: Interactive Session, 3rd Annual Expert Witness Forum East, Toronto, February 27, 2018
  3. Principles governing the cost control of dispute resolution and claim settlement involving experts. Posted July 30, 2019. Updated September 24, 2020 and March 18, 2021
  4. Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries
  5. Data Analytics for Business, St. Clair College, Windsor, Ontario

Appendix

  1. Expert witness forum looks at bias and other touchy subjects in forensic work. Posted March 8, 2018
  2. Are experts being broadsided by bias, unbeknownst to them? Posted April 12, 2018

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. September 20, 2022 ejorden@eastlink.ca)