Creative Commons/Marshall Astor

San Francisco City Hall

The future of San Francisco’s crime lab hangs in a complicated balance.

At a public safety committee meeting Monday morning, members of the city’s Board of Supervisors discussed whether to permanently outsource the crime lab or find some means to start anew.

It would cost millions less to continue outsourcing the police department’s scandal-ridden crime lab than to build and operate a new one, the city controller’s office said at the meeting. But the city has already committed to spending millions on a new public safety facility.

San Francisco voters approved a $412.3 million bond measure in June for seismic upgrades to the city, including a new building in Mission Bay that would house police headquarters, the Southern District police station and a fire station.

Supervisors have also discussed adding the medical examiner's office, which is currently located in the seismically-unsound Hall of Justice, and a new crime lab.

“It's clear that reform is necessary,” said board president David Chiu. “The crime lab scandal speaks for itself.”

The crime lab was shut down earlier this year amid scandal after former employee Deborah Madden admitted to skimming drug samples, forcing the department to outsource drug testing.

But that was only a temporary and partial solution.

Despite the discovery of other problems at the lab, the department has continued to conduct some of its own tests.

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi says that may change.

He’s suggested transferring control of the crime lab from police to the city administrator’s office, which also oversees the medical examiner’s office.

“This is a very complicated matter,” said City Administrator Edwin Lee, who spoke to supervisors about his support for a new building, citing the condition of the medical examiner’s headquarters inside the Hall of Justice. “We have challenges of our own, and we’re struggling with maintaining accreditation.”

In the meantime, supervisors are also still considering the possibility of outsourcing all of the lab’s work, establishing an independent crime lab with no ties to the police department, or creating a regional lab. But the latter two options would cost the city money it doesn’t yet have.

The conversation will continue at the next Board of Supervisors meeting.