Memphis, TN -- Memphis' police chief says a computer glitch is believed to be the reason why nearly 80,000 memos were never sent to detectives for further investigation.
"At this point, I don't have any evidence to substantiate a human-driven cover-up," said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong during an evening news conference.
Police officers in the field write memos when there isn't enough information to generate a full report. Memos are intended to be passed on for more investigation. Starting in January 2006 through July 2011, that didn't happen.
Armstrong said instead, 79,000 memos just sat there until he discovered the issue this past summer.
"Memos we uncovered that should have been upgraded to a report," said Armstrong. "There were some reports that did not get the proper attention they should have gotten."
The computer glitch apparently started when former director Larry Godwin was the Bluff City's Top Cop.
"I truly apologize to anybody out there that thinks they were the victim of the crime, and didn't get their just do as far as a fair investigation," Armstrong said.
Armstrong said memos for murders or other violent crimes are never generated so there is no chance any of those were ever missed.
The glitch not only means crimes weren't investigated, they weren't included in the city's crime stats.
"I can honestly sit here and tell you the likelihood I have the staff to view 79,000 memos is slim to none," he said.
