The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The police crime lab commander was transferred after his unit never reported that two technicians had failed tests of their work, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
Kelly also initiated a review of the crime lab’s operations. Department spokesman Paul Browne insisted the laboratory lapses were isolated and no criminal cases were compromised.
Because the lapses weren’t reported, the department moved Deputy Chief Denis McCarthy from the Forensic Investigations Division to a patrol division and replaced him with Inspector Kevin Walsh, formerly assigned to the counterterrorism bureau.
The department’s public information office said McCarthy would have no comment.
The lab’s technicians are subject to yearly blind proficiency tests, and in 2002, the lab also was investigating a tip that a technician was violating testing standards.
Two technicians failed the blind proficiency tests that year after they allegedly recorded evidence of cocaine without actually testing the substance. One technician retired and the other remains on the payroll while fighting his suspension.
The investigation’s findings should have been reported to the national accreditation board but were not. The lab director, who was under McCarthy’s command, has retired, and the current director discovered the problem.
The NYPD lab employed about 60 civilian technicians five years ago and now has 100.