Accreditation Reinstated for State Crime Lab
Governor said there have been improvements over the last six months.
Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012 | Updated 2:42 PM EDT
A national accreditation group has reinstated the certification of the state crime lab where U.S. Justice Department audits last year found a series of problems.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released a statement, saying a board of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors voted on Tuesday afternoon to restore the state lab's accreditation. Work at the lab never stopped, but the loss of the certification played a role in cutting off the state's access to national DNA databanks run by the FBI.
Auditors last year questioned the lab's supervision, evidence control, data security, quality assurance and DNA test validation techniques. State officials say the problems were mostly administrative and didn't affect the quality of the lab's work.
Officials say they expect to regain access to the national DNA databanks soon.
“With this good news, we can immediately seek full access to the FBI DNA data bank, and we are optimistic that will happen soon,” said Office of Policy & Management Under Secretary Mike Lawlor.
Malloy said improvements have been made over the last six months to alleviate the backlog of cases that stretched over a period of years.
“The decision today by the accreditation panel is welcomed news and certainly a positive step forward as we continue making improvements to restore the state’s crime lab,” Malloy said. “As I’ve said before, prior years of allowing dwindling resources for the lab resulted in an intolerable backlog and undermined our criminal justice system. My administration will continue its efforts to implement improved procedures and provide the critical resources necessary, so that once again the crime lab will be a national model. I’m also very grateful to the work of the lab’s scientists who over the past six months have worked to make sure this would happen.”
Copyright Associated Press
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