BACKLOGS HURT EFFORTS TO FIGHT METH

If someone were to ask Kentuckians to provide legislators with a list
of priorities for the coming year, it's unlikely that additional
technicians at state crime labs would rank very high -- if at all.

But you can bet that safer communities -- and efforts to combat a
growing drug problem, in particular -- would be at or near the top of
that list.

What most people fail to realize, however, is just how closely the two
issues are intertwined.

Law enforcement throughout this region has made fighting
methamphetamine a priority in recent years -- an effort the community
has taken a role in as well. But that effort is being hindered by the
backlog at state crime labs in processing evidence.

Since 1999 -- when methamphetamine began its assault on this region --
the Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has increased its
yearly indictments from 411 to more than 600. So there's clearly been
a crackdown on drug-related crimes.

But some of these cases are taking up to two years to be prosecuted
because of the backlog at state crime labs. For example, the
Madisonville lab, where Daviess County once sent its evidence, no
longer has a meth-certified technician, and has a 1,500-case backlog.
Daviess County is now forced to take its evidence to Frankfort.

The delay in processing evidence hinders the efforts to fight drugs
from a number of standpoints. For starters, it puts drug offenders
back on the streets when they would otherwise likely be behind bars.
In most instances, if a case is delayed for more than six months, it
must either be dismissed or the defendant must be released on bond.

Prosecutors may also be forced to offer plea bargains -- and lesser
sentences -- in order to keep cases moving through the system. Often
this can be a positive. Plea bargains are a growing trend in the
criminal justice system, both because they expedite the process and
because they are cheaper than going to trial. At the same time,
however, the plea bargain should be a tool for prosecutors and not
something they are forced to use because they don't have the proper
lab results. Defense attorneys know about the delays in processing
evidence, and it's not a stretch to think they use this to their
advantage in seeking deals for their clients.

And the delays may affect treatment as well. The reality is that many
addicts won't seek treatment unless they are forced to do so by the
courts. The months or years that some are waiting to have their cases
heard is time that could be spent getting help in beating their
addictions. Instead, as arrest records show, many of these people
awaiting prosecution end up going right back to their drug-filled
environments.

Kentucky should consider providing labs with additional staff or even
building new labs. The state should look at the possibility of
contracting with other states, or even private labs to see whether
such options are both feasible and cost effective. In some cases,
local governments have funded their own lab technician at state labs,
and perhaps Daviess County should look at this option as well.

Whatever the case, developing ways to speed up the processing of
evidence should be a part of Kentucky's efforts to combat the spread
of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.