Computer error delays robbery investigation

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By Betsy Lambert, Eyewitness News

Summary

Residents in an east Bakersfield neighborhood have been robbed and have it all on surveillance video, but officials with the Kern County Sheriffs Office say the case never made it onto a detective's desk because of an error.

Story Created: Jun 18, 2009 at 5:10 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 19, 2009 at 1:31 PM PDT

Computer error delays robbery investigation
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Residents in an east Bakersfield neighborhood have been robbed and have it all on surveillance video, but officials with the Kern County Sheriffs Office say the case never made it onto a detective's desk because of an error.

The victims say about $8,000 worth of bounce houses were taken out of their backyard. They say the men on the video are men who came a few weeks earlier to trim their trees in the backyard. That's when the victims say they probably saw the houses. The suspects disabled two surveillance cameras, but one that was hidden reportedly caught everything.

The residents called the sheriff's office and filed a report in January when the robbery took place, but nothing was ever followed up on. Sr. Deputy Michael Whorf says that's because there was an error in a new computer system.

Sheriff's officials have now put a detective on the case. Officials are also checking for other glitches in the system and say they are confident in the new way of handling reports.