The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Officials in southwest Missouri have renewed efforts to open a crime lab in the region, spurred by the continued backlog of cases pending at the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crime lab in Jefferson City.
“It’s impossible to keep up,” said patrol Capt. Steve Hinesly, the lab’s director. “We have about a 5,000-case log presently. And depending on the analysis, you might wait three months to a year.”
The lab, where criminal evidence from all over the state is sent for analysis, took in nearly 18,000 cases this year. It can take up to a year for the state crime lab to process some criminal evidence needed to build cases against suspects.
The patrol has an accredited satellite crime lab in Springfield, but it only does drug chemistries and blood alcohol testing, Hinesly said. All other testing - DNA tests, blood toxicology, trace evidence, ballistics and analysis of rape evidence - must be done in Jefferson City.
There is space for a new crime lab in a building Springfield is in the process of buying for a central training site for police and fire officers, Springfield City Manager Tom Finnie said. County and city leaders are working together to secure the necessary funding to operate a new lab.
In the meantime, the state’s exploding methamphetamine problem is further clogging the system.
“We wait months, sometimes a year to get the results back and a warrant issued,” Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt said. “They’ll have maybe two or three more arrests in methamphetamine - that’s not uncommon, before you can get them prosecuted.”
Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore said delays can affect victims.
“Imagine you’re in a sexual assault case, and we need DNA done,” Moore said. “We have an idea who the suspect is, but we can’t get the lab work done. That’s more than an inconvenience. That’s an injustice because you have a rapist roaming the streets.”
Moore said a second full-service lab also would be needed if there is a disaster.
“When you start looking at homeland security, you need a backup in case something happened at the lab in Jeff City,” Moore said.