2021/04/06
Forensic Magzine April 5, 2021: ANAB Suspends DC Crime Lab’s Accreditation
After an audit last week recommended the Firearms Examination Unit (FEU) at the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) immediately cease casework, the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) temporarily suspended the lab’s accreditation as of April 2, 2021.
The suspension applies to the laboratory as a whole, not just the firearms unit. An official with the office of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser told The Washington Post that the suspension is in place for 30 days and the city will appeal the finding.
In the meantime, D.C. will need to contract with outside laboratories in order to process evidence in new cases. It is unclear what will happen to current DFS cases, but those will most likely also be transferred to third-party laboratories. Logistically, it’s possible, but certainly not preferable, and timing delays are now expected. The situation also creates a possible legal loophole for those cases with evidence being analyzed at the time of suspension.
ANAB is the same accreditation board that deemed the lab’s DNA procedures to be “inadequate” in 2015, leading to a 9-month suspension of DNA casework, the firing of two senior officials, the chief scientist and the senior manager for DNA testing, and the resignation of Max Houck, the lab’s director.
Jenifer Smith took over as lab director after Houck and all appeared to be going well. By 2018, the lab had two clean audits and was being heralded for improved communication with D.C. police and prosecutors.
The following year, however, the agency was once again embroiled in controversy. In October 2019, the Justice Department asked the laboratory to turn over documents and communications dealing with firearm evidence examination policies, as well as any reviews or indications of errors. The request called for material dating to 2015. Analysis of these documents led the inspector general’s office to initiate a criminal investigation, inclusive of an audit beginning January 2020. more