STATE'S CRIME LABS ELIMINATE BACKLOG OF DRUG CASES

Increased Budget, Larger Staff Cited In Handling 16,000 Cases

LOUISVILLE - An increased budget and larger staff have helped Kentucky
crime labs eliminate a backlog of drug cases that plagued the justice
system for years and drew criticism from judges and state officials.

The state's six crime labs have handled about 16,000 drug cases since
January and no cases older than 60 days remain, said Maj. Sonny Cease,
assistant director of the Kentucky State Police technical services
division.

In the past several months, Shane Young, chief narcotics prosecutor
for the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's office, said he has
seen an "amazing" difference in getting lab results.

"It is 100 percent better than it was this time last year," Young said.

During the backlog, Young said, results were seldom ready when he
called for them. Now, he said, nine out of 10 cases he looks at
include lab results.

Having results makes the entire justice process run more smoothly, he
said.

"We've been scrambling around to be as productive as possible," said
Jeff Warnecke, manager of the central laboratory in Frankfort.

The six labs, with a total of 130 analysts and support staff, handle
cases from about 400 law-enforcement agencies, Cease said. And their
total caseload nearly doubled from 20,700 in 1989 to roughly 40,000 in
2003.

The legislature eventually increased the crime lab budget, allowing it
to hire 11 more people in 2002 and 15 in 2003, Warnecke said. But the
new technicians had to be trained for six months before really getting
to work, while others were retiring or taking higher-paying jobs in
other states.

So despite a statewide hiring freeze, the crime labs received
permission to fill vacancies. The backlog was attacked on other
fronts, too.

About 20 percent of cases were eliminated by combing a statewide court
record system to determine which cases had already been settled in
court, state police Commissioner Mark Miller said.

And 5,200 cases were sent to private labs in a one-time effort to
shrink the backlog, Cease said.

Labs that had lighter caseloads also took on cases from others.

"The cooperation shown between the labs has been amazing," said Capt.
Tom Porter, state police commander for the labs.

Drug-evidence analysts at all the labs worked overtime and they got
help from analysts who normally handle evidence in other types of cases.

Backlogs "are a persistent problem nationally," said Roger Kahn,
president of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.