I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of this myself, but this is great idea and absolutely the way to go. From an [link no longer active] OpEd today in the New York Post by Roger Koppl.

“The time has come to free forensic science from the pressures of prosecutorial bias. To that end, crime labs should become independent of police and prosecutors, and public defenders should be given greater access to forensic advice and testing.”

What Koppl suggests is also the way to go with evidence storage. It would perfectly address the problems there.

(This is a detail from an old photograph of some NYPD police lab guys and their equipment.)