Board: El Paso Crime Lab Can Resume Drug Analysis

The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors’ Laboratory Accreditation Board, in a letter to the El Paso Police Crime Laboratory, said that the lab may resume analysis of all controlled substances cases.

According to a news release issued by the El Paso Police Department, the board said it “was pleased that all of the conditions of the probation had been met by your laboratory.”

The board extended the Police Department’s accreditation as well as its probation period through Dec. 31. However, the condition of the probation was changed, allowing the department’s crime laboratory to resume analysis of all controlled substances cases. An independent laboratory examined 122 cases and found no false identification and no failed identifications of controlled substances.

Cases involving instrumental analysis, which are analyzed through the end of November, must be subjected to 100 percent external technical review, the release said. The technical reviewers report must be provided to the board by Dec. 5, 2011.