By David Hanners

Although St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman wants to study whether the city's troubled crime lab should seek accreditation — with no promise to actually do it — the heads of two of the state's accredited forensic laboratories say the city can hardly afford not to.

Seeking recognition from the international body governing crime labs is time-consuming and expensive, but when asked the cost of not having an accredited lab, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek answered, "You're seeing it right now."

He was talking about disclosures that the St. Paul Police Department's crime lab suffered from shortcomings that call into question drug evidence it presented in court.

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Source: Pioneer Press