PRESS RELEASE:
The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) has notified the Kansas City Missouri Police Department that its crime lab has been re-accredited.
ASCLD inspectors conducted an audit of the Kansas City Police Department Regional Crime Laboratory from Aug. 24 to 28, 2009. This audit was in addition to the annual internal audits the Crime Lab conducts. ASCLD’s audit found that the lab met 84 percent of “essential” criteria, 84 percent of “important” criteria and 100 percent of “desirable” criteria.
Upon receiving the audit report, Crime Lab staff worked to improve all the areas in which the inspectors said they did not meet standards and completed this work on Nov. 30, 2009. Lab staff provided ASCLD with documentation and examples of those changes on Dec. 15. ASCLD notified Kansas City Police on Monday that the lab had successfully remediated those standards and that the lab is now fully accredited through 2014.
“We’re very pleased we were able to quickly remediate the standards and successfully retain our accreditation,” Crime Lab Director Linda Netzel said.
ASCLD’s rigorous accreditation process requires crime labs to meet 91 essential criteria and also looks for 45 important criteria and 16 desirable criteria. Their audits cover everything from employee training to safety equipment to evidence chain of custody. Just four other law enforcement agencies in Missouri operate ASCLD-accredited crime labs. ASCLD conducts accreditation audits of crime labs every five years.
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