Nassau County Narcotics Lab Shuttered

Timothy Meyer

Nassau County’s narcotics Crime lab has been shut down due to errors in analysis related to the testing of controlled substances, and a search for an independent firm to take over its work has begun.

In a statement released last Thursday County Executive Edward Mangano said he agreed with District Attorney Kathleen Rice that the crime lab must be shut down immediately due to recent findings from cases analyzed between 2007 and 2009.

“Until further notice, forensic analysis of narcotics will be conducted by an independent agency,” Mangano said, adding, “Detectives currently working in the drug chemistry section of the crime laboratory will be reassigned to each precinct. Mangano also announced there will be a “root cause” investigation into the situation.

The statement came only a day after District Attorney Kathleen Rice called for the immediate shutdown of the lab, citing a series of revelations concerning errors in analysis related to the testing of controlled substances in the lab.

“The closing of this section of the lab cannot be delayed.. Any continuation of this practice could compromise the fair administration of justice in our county and require costly re mediation in the near future,” Rice said in a statement released Thursday. Rice stated that due to these errors it makes it “impossible” for prosecutors to offer narcotics evidence to the court with the fairness and integrity she believes is required of them.

In December, a state forensic oversight agency released their audit report of the Nassau County Crime Lab documenting a series of procedural and policy violations related to the drug chemistry section of the police department lab. Since that time the lab has been placed on probation by a national lab accreditation group. Director of laboratories for the Nassau medical examiners office Dr. Pasquale Buffolino was assigned by Mangano to run the crime lab.

Recent developments showed that the medical examiner’s office learned that six prior cases involving the drugs MDMA and Ketamine were the subject of inaccurate testing results. Suffolk county tests showed that Nassau County incorrectly measured the purity and amount of drugs in pills seized by police, officials said.

Since the credibility of the crime lab has been questioned, criminal defense lawyers have been begun filing lawsuits on behalf of their clients to review cases involving evidence handled by the lab.

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