By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Kansas City's Police Department takes great pride in how it's supposedly one of the most professional forces in the nation.

So the latest news -- despite being downplayed by department officials -- is a blow to that sheen of professionalism.

Auditors from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors have given the KC Police Crime Lab about four months to correct 13 essential shortcomings found recently.

If the local lab can't do the job, it risks losing its accreditation. And that means it could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants it gets because of its accreditation, according to The Star.

Lab Director Linda Netzel basically said the problems were paperwork in nature.

Maybe so. And maybe, as Netzel implied, the lab's troubles haven't compromised any prosecutions with how evidence has been handled.

But Netzel and Police Chief Jim Corwin must take the recent criticism seriously.

Professional police departments, after all, promptly respond to and take care of their shortcomings.