LAHORE, PAKISTAN // As one of America’s top forensic scientists, Mohammad Tahir is no stranger to complex cases.
He helped uncover evidence that jailed boxer Mike Tyson for rape, convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy and cleared doctor Sam Sheppard of murdering his wife.
Then he took on his toughest assignment yet – applying his skills in Pakistan, a poor nation of 180 million people beset by crime and militancy.
But catching criminals is not Tahir’s biggest problem. It is working with the country’s antiquated criminal justice system.
The notion of producing evidence is a newfangled concept for many involved in law enforcement in Pakistan.
Cases often rely on witnesses who are easily bribed or intimidated. Terrorism and murder suspects usually walk free.
So Mr Tahir went on a new quest: to promote forensic science.
“Physical evidence does not lie,” said the dapper 65-year-old. “It is a silent witness ... We make it speak in a court of law.”
Mr Tahir, a dual Pakistani and US citizen, spent 36 years working with US police and helped write the FBI handbook on forensics.
In 2008, with militant attacks rising in Pakistan, Punjab’s chief minister called Mr Tahir and asked for help to design a new US$31 million (Dh113.8m) forensics lab in the city of Lahore and try to enforce new standards of crime solving.
Funded by Punjab state, the lab was completed in 2012 and now takes about 600 cases a day. It could easily handle twice that if more police start sending in evidence or suspects.
“The police are not educated, they don’t know our capabilities. We have to teach them,” he said.
The gleaming new lab quickly discovered only a tiny fraction of police knew how to secure crime scenes and collect evidence.
DNA samples were mouldy. Guns arrived for analysis, smeared with officers’ fingerprints.
To change that, Mr Tahir set up localised crime scene investigation units and began training police. Now half the samples they receive are packaged correctly, and 3,100 police out of a force of 185,000 have been trained.
But progress is slow. One detective was found fingerprinting himself instead of the suspects for dozens of cases.
Others try to game the system. A prosecutor said police sometimes plant bullets at the crime scene and the gun on the suspect.
But Mr Tahir said that the lab has had some notable successes. One man confessed he poisoned his Scottish wife thanks to evidence from the toxicology and polygraph departments.
A man who raped and killed a 5-year-old in a mosque was identified by his DNA; seven other suspects were freed.
“On one hand, you have exonerated a man,” said Mr Tahir. “On the other you have found someone who has actually committed a crime. Nothing makes you happier.”
* Reuters
