JOPLIN CRIME LAB GETS FEDERAL GRANT

Greene County Prosecutor Says The $500,000 Will Not Help Springfield Area.

JOPLIN - A $500,000 federal grant will allow a university crime lab
that serves more than 50 law enforcement agencies in Missouri and
southeast Kansas to buy new equipment and perhaps catch up on a
backlog of cases. But Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore says the
federal money is a temporary Band-Aid on a gaping wound - a Band-Aid
that will not help Greene County.

"This is a short-term fix," Moore said Sunday. "The main lab in
Jefferson City got a similar grant last year. The money allowed them
to catch up for a while, but now that the money is gone, they're
falling behind again."

The Missouri Southern State University crime lab in this southwest
Missouri city averages 2,500 cases a year from criminal justice
agencies in its region. A small staff and old equipment have caused
the lab to fall about 800 cases behind, said Philip Whittle, the lab's
director.

Whittle said nearly 75 percent of the lab's caseload has to do with
drugs and toxicology. The lab also works with the evidence from any
homicide in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.

While agencies around the region use the lab, Moore said Greene County
does not send evidence there and will not be affected by the funding.

A federal measure providing a grant for the lab was signed by
President Bush on Jan. 22. Sen. Christopher Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt,
both Missouri Republicans, sponsored the bill.

The money will be used to update equipment, including a 30-year-old
comparison microscope that will cost $70,000 to replace, Whittle said.
Because 40 percent of the lab's funds come from the state, he said,
purchasing such equipment during a revenue shortfall is impossible.

The grant also will be used to upgrade the lab's blood-alcohol-analysis
system and DNA program.

"Most of the items will be more computer-controlled and require less
operating time," Whittle said. "The items we have are still reliable
but require more operating expense, more downtime and more
maintenance."

It will be a matter of months before the school receives the grant
money, Bond spokeswoman Shana Stribling said.

The university also has applied for a $300,000 federal grant that
would be used to provide technology equipment, said Julio Leon,
university president.

The $300,000 grant would be used primarily to purchase computers for
distance learning, Leon said.

"The state budget difficulties make it necessary for institutions to
pursue all possible funding avenues," he said.

Moore is familiar with the budget constraints.

"What we really need is a new lab with 26 techs, and we don't have
that," he said. "There is not even a comparison between this grant and
a new equipped lab."