After a months-long investigation into the Austin Police Department’s crime lab, a panel of the Texas Forensic Science Commission on Thursday voted to recommend that the full commission declare that the lab committed no professional negligence or misconduct, reports the city’s American-Statesman. If the commission votes the way the panel has recommended, it could vindicate the Police Department’s lab, which has been dogged by two separate complaints alleging improper work in testing drug evidence.
The panel accused the lab of “some sloppiness” in record-keeping but not negligence. The investigation was based on complaints by a fired employee and by another Texas forensics lab.