MILITARY CALL-UPS LEAVE FORENSICS LABORATORY WITH ONE INVESTIGATOR

Extra Duty

TUSCALOOSA -- With two of their investigators on military leave, staff
members in the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences' Northport
laboratory are working harder to keep up with an already hefty caseload.

The department's investigators examine crime scenes in 14 counties in
western Alabama. Investigator Matt Dyer was activated a year and a half
ago, and Investigator Mike Lee was activated in November. Lee is a military
instructor and is training troops at Fort McClellan.

The one remaining investigator, Charles James, could be called for duty at
any time. His unit out of Hoover has been placed on alert.

"We recognize that it's necessary, and we'll do the best we can to struggle
along because that's what's got to be done," said Dr. John McDuffie,
director of the Tuscaloosa lab.

Forensic pathology technicians, who usually assist the investigators, are
having to step up and perform more investigative work. The department
chemists who test drugs could be asked to help with death investigations if
the caseload becomes too heavy.

"Everybody's having to do more than they were doing. We're getting by,
though," McDuffie said.

The investigators do not go to a death scene unless it seems suspicious or
unnatural. District attorneys and police agencies often request that a
state investigator process a scene because of a lack of local resources.

Statewide, a backlog caused by funding shortages has resulted in 2,000
pending DNA cases and 9,000 unworked drug chemistry analyses. The lab only
performs autopsies, not forensic DNA work.

Tuscaloosa does have a drug chemistry lab, with an 850-case backlog.

"We do analysis for 11 counties and average 125 to 150 per month," McDuffie
said.

All drugs confiscated for possession or distribution arrests in 11 counties
are tested at the lab. The rise of methamphetamine cases in recent years
has made the chemists much busier, McDuffie said.

He said on Friday that the chemists were testing drugs confiscated in July.
The rate at which cases are worked compared to the frequency at which they
come in slows down the criminal justice process as a whole.

"It has an obvious effect on how quickly we're able to do things," said
Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Tommy Smith. "It has a domino effect."

He said the backlog of drug cases affects his office the most.

"It delays cases. But they've made a real concerted effort, and their
quality of work is excellent even though they're short-staffed," Smith said.