Police protocol, state parole systems fell short in McCluskey case, reviews find
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The independent review of how University of Utah police handled Lauren McCluskey’s death found officers did not know how to look up criminal background or parole information, leaving detectives without key information on the man who’d eventually kill her.
A criminal history check is a step that longtime investigators say is one of the first any detective will take.
“No UUPS patrol officers interviewed were familiar with the process for obtaining online ‘Corrections Custody Information,’ in addition to general criminal background information,” the report read.
McCluskey’s killer, Melvin Rowland, was on parole for a third time. He’d been on parole twice before and sent back to prison for violations in both cases.
“You can Google him, and his sexual offender registry status comes up,” said Greg Rogers, a retired FBI agent who was not involved with the review. “I don’t understand how his parole status didn’t come up on a criminal search.”
John Nielsen, who led the independent review, said: “None of the officers sought to discover if Rowland was under the supervision of the Division of Adult Probation & Parole.”
At least part of the problem can be attributed to shortcomings with the state databases that track parolees.
The review said a dispatcher “ran a criminal history check on Rowland using his driver’s license information.” That should have provided an alert of his parole status but did not because the system had a number for an old identity card, not his license, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
DPS did its own review, finding databases may not sync up with other state systems and have old information.
The agency also noted one of the systems, the Public Safety Alert Notification (PSAN) System, sent more than 25,000 notifications per month to parole officers — a number the DPS review called “overwhelming.”
“Our agents, P&P (Probation & Parole) agents are expected to go in and track down and verify if any of their parolees are on that list of alerts,” said DPS Commissioner Jess Anderson.
“It is very convoluted,” Anderson said. “It is very difficult for them to do that amongst the responsibilities that they have.”
The commissioner said DPS is now looking at making improvements to PSAN and the main system that manages offender records, O-Track.
Officers on campus are making changes in response to the recommendations.
“UUPS has implemented a directive requiring a mandatory offender information check when a suspect has been identified in criminal cases and all matters more significant than routine traffic stops,” the university wrote.
The University of Utah declined an interview request with Dale Brophy, the police chief who university president Ruth Watkins said Wednesday still has her “full confidence.”
