New in 2018: Air Force will review, tweak policies on reporting crimes

An Air Force review of its databases and crime reporting will continue into 2018 in the aftermath of a deadly church shooting involving a former airman.

Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 people in a church shooting Nov. 5 in Texas. The ensuing investigation revealed that Kelley, 26, was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his then-wife and stepson. He was confined for 12 months and reduced in rank to E-1, or airman basic, the lowest rank an airman can have, and then discharged for bad conduct in 2014.

But the Air Force failed to report the conviction to the FBI. If the service had reported that information, it would have prohibited Kelley from legally buying guns.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said the service has launched a full-scale review of the case and those like it. They ordered the service’s Office of the Inspector General to review Kelley’s case, and the service also is reviewing its databases to ensure records in other cases were properly reported. The Defense Department’s IG also is reviewing records and procedures across all the services.

The review will continue over the next several months, but preliminary findings found that the error in Kelley’s case was not isolated — dozens of similar reporting lapses were found, the Air Force said Nov. 28.

In a statement, the Air Force said that although policies and procedures requiring crime reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking.

In the wake of these findings, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations has implemented corrective measures, including a leadership requirement at the field, regional and headquarters level to verify that information from applicable cases is registered with the FBI. Tweaks have also been made to the supporting software, checklist and training.

The Air Force is also correcting all identified deficiencies as they’re discovered and reporting them to civilian law enforcement, the release said.

More changes will be implemented as the review continues into next year.

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