Police Chief Thomas Smith appointed a new head of St. Paul's troubled crime lab on Thursday, Minnesota Public Radio said. Senior Commander Colleen Luna will lead the lab's reorganization, Smith said.

Alleged gang threats made against police officers in St. Paul and Minneapolis stemming from the shooting death of alleged Twin Cities gang leader Victor Gaddy have left citizens concerned. To calm nerves, officers from the St. Paul Police Department held a community meeting Thursday night, which drew about 100 people.

Conspiracy theorists: rest easy. Those black helicopters can be explained. U.S. Special Operations Command has been in St. Paul for "routine urban-environment training," portions of which include St. Paul police, a spokesman says. Black Hawks and smaller Hughes 500s might be visible to some residents between 7 p.m. and midnight until Sept. 1. Exact times and locations are not being disclosed.

The Chicago-based Gangster Disciples gang is furious that St. Paul police last week killed Victor Gaddy, a leader of the Twin Cities chapter of the gang, KSTP reports. So the gang has threatened to kill a Minneapolis or St. Paul police officer in retaliation. Police have heard separate reports about the hit, and now all 1,400 officers in the two cities are on "high alert," KSTP says.

Two out-of-state companies will be paid to evaluate and reform the workflow at the St. Paul Police Department crime lab, MPR reports. The lab halted operations at its drug chemistry division in July after lab employees said they did not follow any written operating procedures. Thousands of drug cases are potentially in question.