SFPD lab testing to resume following 'cocaine scandal'

Lab testing will resume at San Francisco Police Department's (SFPD's) drug testing unit as soon as possible following a scandal involving one of its employees, the organisation's chief has stated.

George Gascon made the comments in a press release after it emerged that a former technician at the lab had been suspected of stealing and using cocaine evidence, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Deborah Madden, 60, has not been charged and left the facility in December, but the force closed down the lab in order to perform an independent audit.

The incident has led to a number of cases being dropped, the news provider added, although Chief Gascon explained: "Our crime fighting will continue."

Outside agencies may be approached to carry out drug testing in the meantime.

It follows the recent resignation of Dr Nash Denic from Canadian health organisation Eastern Health.

He stepped down from his job as head of lab services after a poorly-calibrated mass spectrometer analyser led to patients receiving too much of a potentially harmful drug.