The major concern raised by the coalition is the low reliability of crime data.
Only true openness, oversight and transparency will address the reliability of crime statistics and other issues to which they are inextricably connected.
The research, reported online in Psychological Science, is being used to study the reliability of crime witnesses.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said it was the first time a chief constable had spoken out in this way and his comments would fuel a debate about the reliability of crime data.
But questions were raised during the appeal about the quality of the forensic evidence, as well as the reliability of some witnesses, and the prosecutors' theory of the crime.
Crime database managers scale information based on reliability of the source and verification thereof.
To date, only Mr. Reyes is linked to the crime by any evidence beyond words, putting pressure on the reliability of the teenagers' confessions and how they were obtained.
But now, the reliability of crime-scene fingerprint identification is being challenged.
This information might be useful when considering the reliability of witnesses to crimes.
This is the scene of the crime!
