It does not take more than two days of reporting before we see that the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab is more than an embarrassment; it is a danger to everyone in the state.
          There really should be only one response. All of the overpaid, under-qualified and poorly-trained staff should be fired immediately, including supervisory personnel. Some should be charged with criminal offenses for altering evidence.
          The attorney general’s office should at once require that all laboratory personnel be educated and trained to the standards set by national oversight groups.
          In a state famed for the highly trained and educated workforce in scientific and electronic fields it should be easy to recruit a new staff quickly.
          But – and this is most important – that staff and all parts of the SBI should be educated and imbued with a mission to serve all of the state’s people, not just its prosecutors and police forces.
          It will be a great change from the good-old-boy, protect your turf, turn a blind eye code that seems to be endemic in at least part of state government. Won’t it be refreshing?