SFPD dropping 30 cases a day due to drug-lab scandal, training cops to drug test

[Liberal_in_LA]

S.F. police hope officers can do drug testing
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, March 18, 2010

(03-18) 17:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The number of narcotics cases that San Francisco prosecutors have dropped since the Police Department's drug-lab scandal went public is up to 180, and the district attorney says more cases will be dismissed until the city's police officers can perform basic tests on seized evidence in lieu of the closed lab.

The Police Department closed the lab March 9 amid suspicions that a technician there had been skimming and using cocaine. Since then, prosecutors say, about 30 cases a day have been dropped because no one has been able to test the drugs.

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With the drug lab closed indefinitely, the department is giving crash courses in basic testing to narcotics and gang enforcement officers, police spokeswoman Lt. Lyn Tomioka said Thursday. The tests, once the officers start doing them, should provide the basis for prosecutors to file charges, she said.

Chief George Gascón "would like everybody trained as soon as possible, if this works," Tomioka said. "This is a way to address the new crimes that are occurring."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/BA8A1CI38U.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0ia4G7tKh

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