The backlog of evidence waiting to be examined in crime labs is overwhelming. Author Jan Burke addresses this very issue with her tireless efforts in her Crime Lab Project (CLP). Jan, Hallie Ephron, and I spoke on this very subject during Bouchercon. Jan and I will be doing something similar for Left Coast Crime in Seattle.
My latest article for one of the California newspapers I write for featured the topic of CSI and overworked crime lab folks. I've attached the article below. This was written for the layperson, not you guys so it may seem a little elementary to you, but here it is.
CS...I Don't Think So
Ah, to live the life of a crime-solving, danger-seeking CSI investigator. After all, the career offers the best in life—fancy clothes, expensive cars, fine dining, high-speed car chases, and high-tech, James-Bondish gadgets. We see all this on television, so it must be true, right?
Actually, the above description couldn’t be further from the truth. The sad reality is that most forensic laboratories don’t have enough funds or manpower to test all the evidence submitted to them by law-enforcement agencies. Many of the laboratories are understaffed, lack modern equipment, and are in sub par facilities.
Understaffed crime labs add to the already huge backlog of cases that many areas of the country are experiencing. A backlog of cases means evidence goes untested; untested evidence means that cases aren’t solved; unsolved cases mean bad guys are still out on the street committing crimes. Television laboratories examine crime scene evidence immediately, and as a result cases are solved at breakneck speeds. Not so in real life.
In August of this year, the Maryland State Police crime lab reported a shortage of twelve forensic scientists, a lack that caused much of their evidence to go untested. Another August report, this one from Jacksonville, Florida, states that the crime labs of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have evidence from approximately 1,000 cases on hold, waiting to be examined by their forensic scientists.
A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2005 shows that Tennessee’s crime labs are among the most backlogged laboratories in the country. In fact, the same report indicates that a typical crime lab has an average monthly backlog of approximately 400 cases. The 351 publicly funded laboratories in the U.S. ended the year 2002 with a backlog of over 500,000 requests for evidence examination.
Television shows us scientists who work almost exclusively on DNA evidence, firearm comparison, and blood and trace evidence analysis. Actually, scientists and other specialists who work in these laboratories spend only about 5% of their time examining DNA evidence (which by the way, normally takes a minimum of three days to examine, not the fifteen or twenty minutes TV suggests). The rest of their time is spent examining and testing other evidence, such as narcotics and fingerprints, with narcotics being the most often examined piece of evidence in nearly all crime labs.
A backlog in a forensic laboratory slows the entire judicial system. Criminals who are incarcerated while awaiting trial must often remain behind bars until the testing of the evidence from their crime-scenes is complete. This delay often results in continuances of their trials over and over again. The costs for this wait-time can be staggering. Attorneys and judges schedule court cases and police officers, witnesses, and other experts are often subpoenaed for those cases only to find out the case has been rescheduled. The list goes on.
Actors on CSI shows depict the life of crime-scene investigators as action-packed. In reality most of their time is spent in a well-lit (not darkened like we see on TV) laboratory or office. Most CSI technicians are not sworn police officers. They don’t question suspects, they don’t chase bad guys, and they don’t carry firearms. And, they don’t drive Hummers!
A real-life crime-scene investigator has an enormous responsibility. They are sometimes the people who discover the identity of a serial killer or a pedophile. Their jobs are an integral part of law-enforcement, but they’re not magic, and they shop at the bargain stores just like you and me.
If you want to see real police work on TV, do yourself a favor and tune in to a rerun of the Andy Griffith Show. Andy and Barney…now there were two top-notch CSI folks.
Until next time, I’m 10-7, out of service.
Guests: 29
Hidden: 0
Users: 0
Cinco de Mayo
