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San Francisco committee backs civil grand jury calls for crime‑lab reforms, asks for implementation plan
Summary
The Board of Supervisors' audit committee heard the 2015–16 civil grand jury’s review of the SFPD crime lab, agreed to pursue hiring a civilian forensic services director and asked the department and General Services to produce a transfer feasibility plan by Oct. 6; the laboratory information management system (LIMS) is being customized and is "in process."
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on a special morning meeting reviewed the civil grand jury’s 2015–16 report on the San Francisco Police Department crime lab and agreed the city should move toward science‑led leadership while studying full administrative separation.
The grand jury foreperson, Jay Cunningham, introduced Chuck Thompson, who told supervisors that the lab’s credibility had been damaged by a string of incidents — including a cocaine theft, a DNA sample mix‑up in a homicide and two criminalists failing a proficiency test — and recommended two steps: hire a civilian forensic services director and, ultimately, create an autonomous crime lab outside police administration. Thompson said the turnover of police captains — six directors of forensic services since 2010 — undercuts continuity and cited a 2009 National Academy of Sciences recommendation that forensic labs be independent of law‑enforcement oversight.
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