The Air Force said Tuesday that it has found “several dozen” instances where records were not properly relayed to the appropriate databases, following a review launched in the wake of revelations that the military criminal history of Texas church shooter Devin Kelley had not been properly relayed by the Air Force to the appropriate databases, which would have prevented Kelley from purchasing a firearm.
“So far we’ve corrected several dozen records since the review began,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told CNN.
The Air Force launched a review of all cases following the revelation that Kelley’s information had not been properly sent to the appropriate civilian law enforcement agencies. The Department of Defense announced its own review the same day. Kelley killed 25 people and an unborn child at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, earlier this month.
Stefanek said the Air Force is reviewing some 60,000 cases dating to 2002 to determine whether all the records were properly relayed to civilian authorities.
As the military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice does not have a specific designation for domestic assault, a crime that causes someone to be automatically entered in the database, the Air Force must review all assault cases to determine which of them involved domestic assault charges.
In an earlier statement the Air Force said that a review by the Air Force inspector general had confirmed that the Office of Special Investigations and Security Forces personnel assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, “did not report required information to civilian law enforcement in the Kelley case,” adding that “the error in the Kelley case was not an isolated incident and similar reporting lapses occurred at other locations.”
“Although policies and procedures requiring reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking,” the statement said, adding that the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations had already implemented corrective measures to address the issue.
The statement said two task forces composed of 30 personnel from both the Office of Special Investigations and Security Forces are conducting the review of the 60,000 cases and “are aggressively working to ensure 100 percent compliance,” adding the full review will be “be completed over the next several months.”
