Conn. State Crime Lab Wins Professional Accreditation

Feb. 07--HARTFORD -- The state's forensic crime lab, staggered by a huge backlog of untested crime scene evidence, has won back its professional accreditation.

The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors restored the lab's professional standing after an inspection, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday in a statement.

Last year, the lab was hit by a combination blow -- two federal audits were highly critical of lab operations, and the lab's accreditation expired. The result was that lab was barred by the Department of Justice from posting DNA profiles of Connecticut offenders to the FBI's national database, one of the most important functions of any American crime lab.

With its credential restored, the lab will now ask the justice department to resume posting DNA profiles, said Michael Lawlor, Malloy's chief of criminal justice policy.

Malloy said the lab's scientists have worked hard to make the needed improvements. An expert panel is working on a series of reforms. The panel recently put limits on the amount of evidence that police can send in from crime scenes. A budget of $2 million to $3 million a year is being established to pay for additional staff, and a management restructuring is underway.

Once the province of internationally know criminalist Henry C. Lee, the lab has struggled in the last few years with one of the country's worst logjams of untested evidence in dozens of violent crimes.

Malloy said the lab has been chronically understaffed.

Copyright 2012 - The Hartford Courant, Conn.