After years of scandal, the police department will no longer run Houston’s crime lab, Mayor Annise Parker announced last week. The city will have an "independent" crime lab by the end of 2012, she says.

Currently, the lab is downtown at police headquarters. The mayor is still deciding where the new one would be located and how much it would cost. There’s long been talk of a regional crime lab but the city and the county haven’t agreed on how to pay for it.

"I can have an independent crime lab while we still work toward a regional crime lab," Parker said. "I believe it ought to report to a board of nonaffiliated scientists, who can make sure that the lab does objective work."

Source: KHOU 11 News