Report faults lack of crime lab oversight

The Nassau County Police Department’s Forensic Evidence Bureau (FEB) has suffered from systemic problems that have not been properly addressed since its inception in 2003, according to a report released by the New York State Inspector General on Thursday.

Inspector General Ellen Biben found in her investigation that the failures of the Nassau crime lab were an inherent result of a lack of management and oversight by the laboratory, the police department, county leadership and the State Commission on Forensic Science.

According to the report, governor Andrew Cuomo first ordered the investigation on Feb. 25, 2011, after the lab was closed a week earlier due to concerns about the integrity of the testing being done, including reports stating that flawed analyses in testing for MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, had affected criminal cases prosecuted by the District Attorney’s office.

“The failure at the laboratory level was profound,” the report read. “Over its eight-year history, the FEB suffered from weak leadership, a dysfunctional quality management system, analysts with inconsistent training and qualifications. And outdated and incomplete testing procedures.”

In a four-year period from 2006 to 2010, the FEB was placed on probation twice by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB).

Biben oversaw retesting of drug chemistry analyses by FEB, and while it has not been completed, the report claims that preliminary results indicate that more than 10 percent of the lab’s results had inconsistencies in the testing that “should have been detected by lab personnel.”

“Notably, some of the issues identified thus far affect charges in criminal cases, a pattern that is, unfortunately, likely to continue,” the report read.

The inspector general determined that FEB’s problems were aggravated by a lack of appropriate attention from the Nassau County Police Department and County Executive’s office.