The D.C. crime lab, which lost its accreditation two years ago, appears to be on the road to recovery and helping strengthen the city’s fight against crime.
D.C. Council member Brianne Nadeau visited the D.C. Department of Forensic Science on Thursday and learned that the troubled lab has begun the process to win back its accreditation.
“I was really excited to learn that last month they filed for reaccreditation of the Forensic Biology and Forensic Chemistry Units which helps us address, crime and evidence here in the District of Columbia,” Nadeau said. “They asked for their application to be fast-tracked. And right now it’s being reviewed on paper, and then in early December they’ll have a site visit [to] allow the accreditors to determine any changes or updates that need to be made since their application.”
Nadeau added that the crime lab could be reaccredited by January.
The lab is responsible for analyzing major crime scene evidence, and its work has been ongoing — but without accreditation.
It hasn’t been hard to discredit the laboratory’s forensic evidence in court.
“If somebody has an attorney that’s smart enough to say, ‘Oh, well, you know, this evidence was processed in the lab that isn’t accredited,’ it creates doubt in the mind of a judge or a juror” when trying to determine guilt, Nadeau said. “So it really does have an impact on our ability to prosecute crime swiftly and fairly, and having these two divisions back up and running is really going to make a difference in that regard.”
Previous details shared by the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences estimated that the District’s crime lab was unlikely to regain the ability to analyze some evidence, such as DNA, until 2024 at the earliest.
The D.C. Council approved an initial attempt to overhaul the city’s crime lab near the end of 2022.
WTOP’s Ivy Lyons and Jack Moore contributed to this report. Read more coverage of the DC Crime Lab on WTOP.
