Science Thursdays: Iowa Senator Call for Army Crime Lab Investigation

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) called for a federal investigation of the Army Crime Lab, prosecutors in Indiana covered up errors at the toxicology lab and the city of Philadelphia deals with unreliable breath tests.  Here’s a roundup of forensics news:

 

Sen. Grassley requested an investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Defense to determine

whether the military mishandled problems at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory

.

The leaders of an Indiana prosecutors group were alerted more than two years ago about errors at the Indiana State Department of Toxicology,

but failed to disclose that information

.

Philadelphia city officials announced last month that

police had been using four breath-testing instruments that had not undergone mandatory calibration checks

, affecting evidence in drunken-driving cases between September 2009 and November 2010.

After years of problematic case work,

a controversial medical examiner may no longer work in California

.

An increasing number of states are interested in using

familial DNA searches

.