May 22, 2008 4:58 pm US/Eastern
Improvements Seen In State Police Crime Lab
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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DNA cases used to be done one at a time, but newly purchased equipment can handle multiple cases.
WBZ
The State Police Crime Lab is getting the job done these days. That's the message from Governor Patrick.
It is a big change from last summer when a study concluded the crime lab was a mess with more than 16,000 neglected cases.
Anytime there is a murder in Massachusetts, chances are the evidence ends up at the State Police Crime lab in Maynard.
Today specialists have new technology which can speed up the DNA testing process.
Basically, DNA cases used to be done one at a time, but newly purchased equipment can handle multiple cases. "Today I want to focus on the progress and improvements we have been able to make at our state crime lab," said Gov. Patrick.
In front of hundreds of law enforcement from across the state, the governor told the crowd at the Seaport Hotel new technology and more employees mean the crime lab is no longer drowning in a back log of thousands of cases.
The back log was so bad, the state actually had to hire outside private laboratories to help. The Secretary of Public Safety said those private labs were paid a few million dollars.
But the delays also cost local law enforcement, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley.
"It was a great cost to us. When we were not getting not getting the turn around time from the State Police Crime Lab…. we were the ones sending the samples off to private DNA labs at great expense to us.."
According to the governor's office, the state crime lab has tripled the number of cases it handles in an average 90 day period. The last quarter of 2006, 112 cases were completed. 330 were completed during the first quarter of 2008.
And they say there is less waiting around. The average wait time was 91 days in 2006 and now in 2008 it is 60 days.
Barnstable County District Attorney Michael O'Keefe says "It's getting better every day. However, there is still a turn around time that we would like to see decreased."
State crime lab experts say there used to be about 18,000 DNA cases in cold storage. Now they say they have a priority list of just 500 cases.
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