Science Thursdays: NY Governor Responds to Lab Scandal

Self-destructing computer data storage, the UK sees forensic research privatized, and persisting problems American crime labs – here’s a roundup of forensic news:

Unlike magnetic-based hard drives,

data stored on flash drives and other solid state memory can self-erase

, creating evidentiary problems.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed the State Inspector General to investigate the Nassau County police crime lab.

Subpoenas were issued

on Tuesday to the

Nassau police department and several civilian lab

employees.




The D.C. City Council is holding a hearing on how

flawed breathalyzer equipment

calls into question hundreds of drunken driving convictions.

Since 2009, Houston has been using private consultants to run the city’s

fingerprint department

because of earlier problems.




The UK’s

privatization of forensic science research

raises concerns over whether private companies, afraid of commercial competition, will refuse to reveal procedures used in forensic testing.