The Associated Press
BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) - The processing of trace evidence from almost 400 crimes has been halted at the state police crime lab while officials try to replace analysts who have departed.
The lab, which accepts evidence from police agencies across Maryland, has in the past year lost all three of the analysts who handled trace evidence, a state police spokesman said Tuesday.
The departures leave evidence from 382 crimes waiting to be analyzed, said state police spokesman Maj. Greg Shipley.
State police say they are contacting the police departments that have submitted trace evidence to determine whether it must be analyzed immediately for coming trials or whether processing can wait until next month, when state police expect to have at least two certified trace evidence examiners.
If the evidence is needed immediately, state police will send it to a private lab or to the FBI for processing, Shipley said.
State police continue to process all other evidence, including DNA samples, fingerprints and drugs, Shipley said.
The other two state police trace evidence examiners resigned in April and July, said Shipley, who could not say why the examiners quit. But he pointed out that retaining forensic scientists has long been a problem for state police and other local police departments, in part because the many federal law enforcement agencies in the area pay more.
The state police crime lab’s director is being recertified to examine trace evidence and should be able to begin processing by early January, Shipley said. A new trace evidence examiner hired by the state police is to start work in the middle of next month, he added. The department is also advertising nationally to hire more trace evidence examiners, he said.
While larger police departments, including those in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, process their own evidence and sometimes also process evidence for smaller departments, all 147 police departments in Maryland are allowed to submit evidence to the state police crime lab, Shipley said.
Many police agencies have staffers who can do basic, first-step evidence reviews, and key evidence such as hair samples is frequently sent for genetic tests instead of trace examinations, said Harford State’s Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly.
“I don’t think it’ll have a big impact,” he said. “I can’t think of the last time I worried about trace evidence.”