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Scandalized San Francisco Crime Lab Receives Accreditation

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) _ The San Francisco Police Department Crime Lab, which was characterized by controversy earlier this year, has now been accredited by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD).

The crime lab stopped testing narcotics when it was discovered that one of its technicians, Deborah Madden, was skimming drugs.

KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports :

No criminal charges have been filed, but that technician has been fired.

For months the lab has been trying to rebound by attaining accreditation by the ASCLD, but Assistant Chief Denise Smith said the lab can only test biological, fingerprinting, firearms and handwriting evidence.

"They last visited us over the summer, at which time we talked about a couple of remaining issues that they wanted to see that we remediated, and they were completely satisfied," boasted Smith.

The lab will continue to send drug evidence out to other labs for the foreseeable future.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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