TURNOVER FUELS CRIME LAB BACKLOG

JPD Facility Behind On About 500 Drug Cases; Agency In Need Of Workers

High turnover and job vacancies have led to an estimated six-month backlog
on drug evidence waiting to be analyzed at the Jackson Police Department
Crime Laboratory, the director said.

Of the lab's eight staff positions, three employees analyze drugs. A fourth
analyst is in training, director Jacquelyn Gardner said. Two more
applicants could be hired to fill vacancies. But Gardner is waiting on
criminal background checks to be completed.

Meanwhile, the lab has a backlog of around 500 drug cases to analyze. About
90 percent of the lab's caseload is drug evidence, she said.

The lab analyzes all drug evidence seized by Jackson police except what
comes from methamphetamine labs. The city crime lab can analyze meth if
that's all officers seize. But if they get a meth lab, it has to be taken
to the state Crime Lab. The city lab doesn't have the ability to analyze
everything that comes with a lab. To keep from breaking chain of evidence,
they send everything to the state.

The Jackson crime lab isn't the only one battling a backlog, according to a
study released Wednesday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The nation's crime labs ended 2002 with more than 500,000 backlogged cases,
compared to 290,000 cases backlogged at the beginning of the year, the
report states. Nationwide, crime labs received about 2.7 million cases to
analyze and processed just under 2.5 million cases.

About half of all the cases labs received for analysis were drug cases, the
report said.

Gardner fears her trained analysts could resign any day to go to private
labs where analysts make more money.
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Fast Facts

State Crime Lab

# No. of employees: 72
# No. of vacancies: 28
# Starting pay: $26,500
# Average turnaround time: 30 days for drugs, 45 days for blood-alcohol and
toxicology tests, 90 to 120 days for fingerprints. At the end of April,
firearms evidence could be done in 30 days. In six months, DNA tests could
be done in 60 days.
# Average annual caseload: 22,400
# Budget: $5.9 million
# What it analyzes: DNA, ballistics and firearms, trace evidence, drugs,
blood, body fluids, methamphetamine laboratories, finger prints,
handwriting and toxicology.

City Crime Lab

# No. of employees: 8
# No. of vacancies: 2
# Starting pay: $30,000
# Backlog: 6 months on drugs
# Average annual caseload: 2,800
# Budget: less than $1 million
# What it analyzes: Drugs (except methamphetamine laboratories) blood,
bodily fluids

Source: State and city crime labs

The starting salary for a city crime lab analyst is about $30,000. Pay for
analysts at the state Crime Lab, which is part of the state Department of
Public Safety, is around $26,500.

Private labs pay around $45,000, officials say.

"Once they complete the training program, they can make way more money,"
Gardner said. "And they may get a bonus every year."

At least five analysts have left since Gardner became lab director five
years ago, she said. Crime labs like hers are becoming training grounds,
she said. "It's a never-ending story."

As Gardner struggles to keep employees, cases continue to come in for
analysis. In 2003, the lab received evidence in about 3,000 cases, of which
an estimated 2,700 were drug cases.

In 2004, evidence in as many as 2,800 cases went to the lab. About 2,500 of
those involved drug analysis.

Besides drugs, analysts also type blood and identify bodily fluids.
Analysis of that evidence is up to date, Gardner said.

DNA, firearms and trace evidence, including hair and fibers, must be tested
at the state Crime Laboratory.

Jackson City Council President Leslie B. McLemore said the council hadn't
been told about the crime lab's staffing problems and case backlog.

"Clearly that is something we need to address," he said.

The council is aware of general turnover at the Police Department, McLemore
said. It has responded with pay raises for police and firefighters.

In a written statement, Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said the city
generally loses many employees to private businesses.

"This competition makes it difficult for us to keep these well-trained
employees in the legal, engineering and law enforcement field in general,"
he said.

Police Chief Robert Moore allowed Gardner to release crime lab statistics
last week after being asked three times for the information by The
Clarion-Ledger. "I'm not ready to have that conversation," he said earlier
this month after the second request.

Last year, detectives continuously cited the crime lab in explaining why no
one had been arrested in the August attack of 93-year-old Melcenia Bell,
who was stabbed more than 40 times in her home. She died about four months
later.

Detectives submitted bloody clothing to the lab after the attack and didn't
get DNA results until mid-November. City crime lab scientists had to
extract blood from the clothing to determine whether it was that of the
victim or a possible suspect.

Because of the delay, the state Crime Lab didn't get the evidence to
analyze DNA from the Bell case until November, according to Jackson police.

Police labeled Mary Ann Dixon, 28, of 246 Whitfield St. in Jackson, as the
suspect. They arrested and charged her with cocaine possession. But the
blood evidence in the case did not match hers, police said. Dixon, who was
held about four months at the Hinds County Detention Center, recently was
released on $5,000 bond.

Bell's son, Keith Bell, couldn't be reached. He has said he thinks police
don't know who killed his mother.

Neither Moore nor Gardner would discuss the Bell investigation.

Moore said Gardner attends the weekly crime trend analysis meetings. "We're
staying on top of things to keep them from slipping through the cracks."

He said he leaves prioritizing cases to her and her direct supervisors -
Claude Smith, deputy chief of support and technical services, and Edna
Drake, assistant chief of administration.

Gardner said she sets priorities by determining what evidence needs to be
ready to present in court. After that, she said, "Whatever comes in, we
work it."

Gardner said it's more important for lab analysts to follow protocol and
not worry about the case name on the evidence.

"Every case I work, I work as if (O.J. Simpson's attorney) Johnny Cochran
is cross-examining me," she said.