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RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina's attorney general appointed an interim director of the embattled state-run crime lab today to review the department for problems like those found in a unit that analyzes blood.

Attorney General Roy Cooper said Gerald Arnold, a former chief judge of the state Appeals Court, will serve as interim director of the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab. Arnold's main job will be to see if mistakes found in the serology section — where some analysts didn't always fully report blood test results in their lab reports — were repeated in the lab's six other sections.

"The key here is going to be to make sure we solve the problems, restore the public confidence in the SBI and move forward with them solving crimes, protecting the public and exonerating innocent people," Cooper said.

Most agents are honest and hard-working, "but some of their colleagues have not been held accountable," he said. "They've made mistakes. And now the entire SBI is paying for that."

Last month, an independent review of serology unit cases from 1987 to 2003 called for a thorough examination of 190 criminal cases, stating information that could have helped defendants was sometimes misrepresented or withheld.

Cooper had ordered the review in March after an SBI agent testified the crime lab once had a policy of excluding complete blood test results from reports offered to defense lawyers before trials. Agent Duane Deaver's testimony led to the exoneration of a man imprisoned nearly 17 years for a murder conviction.

Cooper announced several other changes in addition to Arnold's appointment, including that he has:

• asked the former assistant directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who did the independent investigation of the serology unit to audit the DNA and the firearms and tool mark sections. He also has sought help from the ATF with the firearms and tool mark section audit.

• decided to continue the suspension of the bloodstain analysis program, which is not part of the crime lab but is part of the SBI. Cooper said he wants the program to become accredited so it can be part of the lab. He also said he was concerned about "the potential influence of prosecutors on SBI agent decisions with this science."

• moved up to 2011 the plan for a tougher accreditation for the lab. The lab is now accredited by ASCLD/LAB and the state had intended to seek the tougher International ISO accreditation by 2013.

Also Wednesday, an advisory group searching for a new crime lab director was scheduled to hold its first meeting.

Cooper also said the reviews and changes were not the end of SBI crime lab improvements. The N.C. Conference of District Attorneys has called for an audit of the entire lab, and some critics have said the lab should be independent and not part of the SBI.

"This is not the be all and end all," he said. "We're continuing to look, continuing to move forward."