Nassau police crime lab chief reassigned

Revelations of a litany of problems at the Nassau police crime lab - from improper evidence handling to poor documentation - forced the lab director from his post Friday, police officials said, as the county formed a new oversight committee and sought a civilian lab expert to help fix the errors.

Shortcomings at the Nassau crime lab, where civilians and sworn officers analyze a wide range of crime evidence, came to light this week after police brass learned, belatedly, that the lab's accreditation had been put on probation.

After a regularly scheduled review that ended Nov. 11, inspectors from the national lab accrediting agency informed the lab director, Det. Lt. James Granelle, they had uncovered failures to comply with 15 "essential" lab protocols and 10 "important" protocols.

In an interview Friday, Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said he and other department brass did not learn of the agency's report until Monday, three days after the lab was informed in writing of its probationary status. Granelle has been reassigned to the chief of detectives office.

While voicing confidence in the validity of the work produced in the lab, Mulvey acknowledged the problems went beyond poor communication. The reassignment "may have happened anyway, because of the deficiencies in the report," he said. "We have a lot to review and a lot to correct."

The lab will continue to operate while the review is under way.

Granelle was a sergeant when he became the deputy commander of the lab in 1983. He later led the crime scene unit and became lab director in 2003. Deputy Chief Paul Clark of the Detective Division now supervises the lab.

The lab's probationary status is highly unusual: the Nassau lab is the first in the state to be put on probation, and only the second in the nation to get probationary status twice, according to the agency that accredits labs.

The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board gave the department 30 days to form a plan to address the issues.

Consulting with District Attorney Kathleen Rice and County Executive Edward Mangano, Mulvey said he formed a committee Friday to oversee the lab fixes and transition to new leadership.

The Crime Laboratory Oversight Committee will be chaired by Clark. The other members are Deputy Chief Thomas Krumpter, Insp. Neil Delargy, Deputy Insp. James Bartscherer, and assistant district attorneys Meg Reiss and Teri Corrigan.

The commission's duties are explicitly to fix problems detailed in the current accreditation report; hire a consultant to direct the overhaul; plan the transition of the lab to a new but currently unfinished facility; and hire a permanent civilian director. The task of reviewing the history of the lab's problems to address "root causes" will fall to the consultant, Mulvey said.

"Like everyone, the district attorney [Kathleen Rice] is troubled by the serious issues contained in the report," said DA spokesman Chris Munzing in a written statement. "However, she is also confident that the police commissioner is acting quickly to remedy the situation. In the interim, the office is in the process of evaluating what impact these issues will have on old, pending or future cases."

In response to a demand Thursday by a group of criminal-defense attorneys to be included in a lab oversight group, Rice sent a letter Friday inviting Nassau Criminal Courts Bar Association president William Kephart to meet to discuss the lab report.

"With this added insight and clarity, defense attorneys will be in a better position to take whatever action they feel appropriate with respect to their clients," the letter states.

The group also called for the lab to be closed during the review.