After promising nearly a year ago to hire additional DNA analysts to cut through a backlog of cases, the Police Department's crime lab still has less than half the staff it needs to cover the workload. The lab, which would ideally be staffed by 11 technicians, has actually lost employees since last June when the department promised to hire more. With only four DNA analysts currently on staff, the Examiner reports that the city spends $1.8 million a year outsourcing some 30 cases per month to a private DNA lab in Richmond. more ›

Dan Noyes of ABC 7 uncovered another embarrassing bit of information about the city's police department. Namely, the San Francisco Police Department delivered illegal drugs to former crime lab technician Deborah Madden while she was under investigation for possible cocaine theft. more ›

Via Noe Valley SF and the Chron we hear tell of the case of the unsolved murder Charles McAleer-Bonilla outside his home at 28th and Sanchez on April 8, which now appears solved — but not before the S.F.'s crime lab's slowness led to the killer going on a rampage, shooting a cop in Concord, and taking a toddler hostage in Sacramento. more ›

See what baggie theft can lead to? An irrevocable chain of gruesome events. CBS 5 reports, "A newly released report from the San Francisco City Controller concludes that the SFPD should privatize much of the work performed at their embattled crime lab." Go here for the long-winded full report in jarring PDF form. [via CBS 5] more ›

The backlog at the SFPD's crime lab includes evidence that could convict murderers in 23 cases, as well as evidence in 86 sexual assaults and 187 burglaries, some dating back to 2005 and earlier (their computers only track as far back as 2005). Police chief George Gascon has called for the backlog to be cleared by farming some work out to outside labs, which could still take another year. Um, what exactly has been taking so long? This can't all be blamed on Deborah Madden. [Examiner] more ›

Remember the story of Dopey Debbie the Coke Whore whose shenanigans may have cost the SFPD like a hundred drug convictions? Well, prosecutors in the case of Dennis Cyrus — a former member of the Page Street gang who stands accused of killing three dudes and some dozen other counts of drug conspiracy and racketeering — say that Debbie's bad behavior probably won't threaten their case. more ›

In the wake of that whole crime lab cocaine brouhaha, SFPD chief George Gascón is shuffling some staff, and promoting his recently hired buddy from L.A., Jeff Godown from commander to assistant chief in charge of Administrative Services. Godown will head up the investigation of the crime lab. more ›

In a snafu that has resulted in the dismissal of at least 90 criminal cases so far, new reports reveal that the San Francisco Police department waited two months to launch their investigation into into a drug lab technician, Deborah Madden, "suspected of stealing cocaine evidence, even though her sister had told the lab she feared the woman had taken home a vial full of the drug" back in December, the Chronicle uncovered. more ›

After allegations popped up that Deborah Madden, a 60-year-old lab technician for the SFPD, stole and used cocaine evidence she was supposed to analyze, Attorney General (and, most likely, the future Governor of California) Jerry Brown "announced that his office will provide a team of specialists to assist in a thorough independent audit of the laboratory." more ›