(03-18) 17:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The number of narcotics cases that San Francisco prosecutors have dropped since the Police Department's drug-lab scandal went public is up to 180, and the district attorney says more cases will be dismissed until the city's police officers can perform basic tests on seized evidence in lieu of the closed lab.
The Police Department closed the lab March 9 amid suspicions that a technician there had been skimming and using cocaine. Since then, prosecutors say, about 30 cases a day have been dropped because no one has been able to test the drugs.
Police recruited outside labs to test some samples, but those labs are focusing on major cases approaching trial and defendants who have extensive criminal histories. Prosecutors are being forced to drop lesser cases and are unable to arraign most drug suspects arrested by police.
With the drug lab closed indefinitely, the department is giving crash courses in basic testing to officers in the narcotics and gang enforcement divisions, police spokeswoman Lt. Lyn Tomioka said Thursday.
The tests, once officers start doing them, should provide the basis for prosecutors to file charges, she said.
Chief George Gascón "would like everybody trained as soon as possible, if this works," Tomioka said. "This is a way to address the new crimes that are occurring."
Brian Buckelew, spokesman for District Attorney Kamala Harris, said that until that happens, prosecutors will still have to turn about 30 suspects loose daily.
Prosecutors face a judge's deadline of today to have drug evidence ready in 35 cases set to go to trial. Buckelew said he hopes that the outside labs that San Francisco has turned to will be able to finish that work in time.
The turmoil at the lab began when lab officials were alerted to possible cocaine theft by a criminalist, Deborah Madden, 60. Her sister contacted a lab supervisor Dec. 16 to report what she believed to be a police vial of the drug inside Madden's San Mateo home.
By then, Madden had gone on leave from the department and was undergoing drug and alcohol rehabilitation therapy. She retired March 1.
The information from Madden's sister, along with a quick sampling that showed at least one sealed package of cocaine may have been tampered with, was forwarded to the legal section of the Police Department. A criminal investigation was not launched until Feb. 22, however.
Madden has not been charged and has declined to comment.
Two weeks before Madden left the department, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors did a certification audit of the police lab. It found, among other things, that the lab had failed to secure a computer documenting drug evidence from unauthorized access. It also found that drug lab equipment had been contaminated with leftover narcotics.
Rather than issue a five-year extension on the crime lab's accreditation, the group gave police six months to fix the problems.
It's unclear when police told auditors about the Madden case. Ralph Keaton, executive director of the lab directors group, said he learned about it only last week.
"If there are any problems of a significant nature and the lab isn't notifying us, we will have to address it," Keaton said. His auditors will return to the crime lab in the next two weeks to do a follow-up inspection.
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at [email protected].
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/BA8A1CI38U.DTL#ixzz0iltQsse7
The Police Department closed the lab March 9 amid suspicions that a technician there had been skimming and using cocaine. Since then, prosecutors say, about 30 cases a day have been dropped because no one has been able to test the drugs.
Police recruited outside labs to test some samples, but those labs are focusing on major cases approaching trial and defendants who have extensive criminal histories. Prosecutors are being forced to drop lesser cases and are unable to arraign most drug suspects arrested by police.
With the drug lab closed indefinitely, the department is giving crash courses in basic testing to officers in the narcotics and gang enforcement divisions, police spokeswoman Lt. Lyn Tomioka said Thursday.
The tests, once officers start doing them, should provide the basis for prosecutors to file charges, she said.
Chief George Gascón "would like everybody trained as soon as possible, if this works," Tomioka said. "This is a way to address the new crimes that are occurring."
Brian Buckelew, spokesman for District Attorney Kamala Harris, said that until that happens, prosecutors will still have to turn about 30 suspects loose daily.
Prosecutors face a judge's deadline of today to have drug evidence ready in 35 cases set to go to trial. Buckelew said he hopes that the outside labs that San Francisco has turned to will be able to finish that work in time.
The turmoil at the lab began when lab officials were alerted to possible cocaine theft by a criminalist, Deborah Madden, 60. Her sister contacted a lab supervisor Dec. 16 to report what she believed to be a police vial of the drug inside Madden's San Mateo home.
By then, Madden had gone on leave from the department and was undergoing drug and alcohol rehabilitation therapy. She retired March 1.
The information from Madden's sister, along with a quick sampling that showed at least one sealed package of cocaine may have been tampered with, was forwarded to the legal section of the Police Department. A criminal investigation was not launched until Feb. 22, however.
Madden has not been charged and has declined to comment.
Two weeks before Madden left the department, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors did a certification audit of the police lab. It found, among other things, that the lab had failed to secure a computer documenting drug evidence from unauthorized access. It also found that drug lab equipment had been contaminated with leftover narcotics.
Rather than issue a five-year extension on the crime lab's accreditation, the group gave police six months to fix the problems.
It's unclear when police told auditors about the Madden case. Ralph Keaton, executive director of the lab directors group, said he learned about it only last week.
"If there are any problems of a significant nature and the lab isn't notifying us, we will have to address it," Keaton said. His auditors will return to the crime lab in the next two weeks to do a follow-up inspection.
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at [email protected].
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/BA8A1CI38U.DTL#ixzz0iltQsse7
