Nearly 700 officers were trained to use portable kits to test for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The “presumptive” tests, which cost about $1 each, were introduced into the field in April. Police officials hope that they will reduce the need for more comprehensive drug testing, which is now being outsourced to Alameda County at a cost to the city of $155 per case.
Presumptive tests have been standard practice for decades at police departments across the country, including ones in Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. But critics are concerned that the San Francisco police may be moving from one scandal to another. The city’s public defender’s office says the tests could lead to false arrests because some legal substances are known to yield a positive result for illegal narcotics.
In addition, with set time limits to complete the test and myriad ways to interpret the colors, experts say field-testing can be difficult to perform, especially under the often-stressful conditions of police work. The department has issued a seven-page manual to help officers with the portable kits.
The agency responsible for the lab’s accreditation discovered other problems: a short staff, outdated equipment and testing procedures, inconsistent record-keeping, even a family of feral cats living at the facility.
An audit by the United States Department of Justice and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office concluded that the drug analysis staff of three was overworked, handling about 14,000 cases a year. Technicians were struggling to process the caseload under a tight deadline — within 48 hours, the time allotted for prosecutors to file charges after a suspect’s arrest.
Chief George Gascon shuttered the drug-analysis section of the lab and introduced presumptive testing in the hope that it would sharply reduce the number of cases sent out for lab work. Since more than 90 percent of drug cases in San Francisco are resolved with plea agreements or dropped charges, officials reasoned, they would need fewer lab tests, which prosecutors rely on in a jury trial to prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt.
Police officials say field testing could lead to a reduction in lab tests to 4,000 a year, from 14,000. Moving forward from the scandal, police officials have said a reconstituted crime lab could easily handle the smaller caseload, an argument they have presented to the Board of Supervisors in pushing for a new facility.
Submitted by I. Markota
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