Erin Nealy Cox takes over the city investigation into IT losses which deleted millions of police files used in criminal prosecutions.
Nealy Cox is the former US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and was recommended by Dallas officials hoping to find answers to the data loss jeopardizing upwards of 17,000 criminal cases.
Council members on Thursday also questioned the head of the city’s IT department about a 131-page report released two weeks ago that found the country’s ninth-largest city lacked basic policies and procedures for backing up archived data.
The City Council’s general investigating and ethics committee unanimously agreed Thursday to recommend law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to conduct the independent review. The City Council will have to approve the decision to make it official.
“The data loss incident may have originated with a single employee who broke the rules,” said council member Cara Mendelsohn, who is chair of the committee. “But it’s clear from this report that there are no rules.
“The discovery of the data loss is horrific to the victims of family violence, and I’m not sure that we can ever fully apologize for any of the cases that don’t move forward because of these errors.”
Erin Nealy Cox – No Stranger To Dallas Police
Nealy Cox, resigned from North Texas’ U.S. Attorney’s Office in December estimated the review and report would take three months to complete and cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars.
Dallas Police Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez said an investigation continues alongside the Dallas FBI Field Office.