REGIONAL DRUG LAB PUTS ANDERSON COUNTY IN STATE SPOTLIGHT

ANDERSON -- A new regional forensics drug lab has already tested more than
500 samples of evidence and brought statewide attention to Anderson County.

The county has won the 2002 J. Mitchell Graham Award from the state
Association of Counties for the creation of the lab that serves law
enforcement agencies in Anderson and Oconee counties.

It's a second consecutive win for Anderson County, which swept the
statewide association's two highest honors by also winning the 2002
Regional Cooperation Award for the 4-U Transit System, which provides free
bus service between Anderson, Pendleton, Clemson and Central.

The county-operated The Anderson/Oconee Regional Forensics Laboratory
recently opened in the basement of the historic Old County Home building
where Anderson County Detention Center offices are located.

The lab was built by skilled inmates - plumbers, carpenters, brick masons
and electricians - for $87,000, saving an estimated $106,000 had the county
used traditional bid award methods, said Anderson County Administrator Joey
Preston.

A federal grant provided three-fourths of the funding.

The lab saves law enforcement officers' time and taxpayers' money, speeds
up the court process in drug cases and gets offenders off the streets
sooner, Preston said.

It shortens the wait for drug reports from busy State Law Enforcement
Division drug labs in Columbia, which can take up to 180 days, and
basically eliminates time and travel expenses in getting evidence to the lab.

Every law enforcement agency in Anderson County is within 20 minutes of the
new lab, and the average turnaround time is 10 days, Preston said.

The savings could be significant because the number of drug cases Anderson
County submitted to SLED labs for analysis has grown from 311 in 1997 to
759 in 2000, according to county reports.

"This modern forensics laboratory, which was constructed on a shoestring
budget in response to pressing law enforcement and public safety needs,
allows the law enforcement and judicial agencies of Anderson and Oconee
counties to operate more efficiently than ever," Preston said.

"Citizens of Anderson County are receiving the benefits of this new
laboratory through the faster prosecution of drug offenders ... Now there
are fewer drug offenders awaiting trial out on bond in the community. Drug
offenders are being sentenced faster, which makes them less of a burden on
the county detention centers and the taxpayers to house them there."