STATE CRIME LABS IN NEED

Lack Of Funding, Personnel Beginning To Hurt Forensics Work

MONTGOMERY - Victims rights advocate Miriam Shehane recalled a murder
victim's mother who was distraught that the district attorney said he was
still waiting for DNA tests needed to try the case.

The prosecutor HAD to be lying, the woman told Shehane. It had been two
long years since her daughter was killed. How could it possibly take so
long to test the evidence?

Easy, says Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences chief Taylor Noggle:
With a backlog of about 2,000 DNA cases, and a struggle for any new funds
and staff, it's not unusual for forensics work in an Alabama murder case to
take about two years.

"It's essentially because we don't have the personnel to handle the number
of cases that are coming in," Noggle said.

The backlogs are steep in other sections, too.

The drug chemistry analysis division, where technicians test drugs ranging
from prescription medication to methamphetamine, has about a 9,000-case
backlog. The firearms division, where experts link spent shell casings to
suspected murder weapons, has about 700 unworked cases. And toxicology,
where blood and tissue is examined for the presence of drugs or alcohol,
has about 900 cases in line.

"Where we're hurting the most is in DNA," Noggle said. "Those are piling up
faster."

Like many forensic sciences departments around the country during the
extended economic downturn, Alabama's budget woes have hurt Noggle's
agency. It has about $2.3 million less from all sources this fiscal year
than last, and its core budget - money from the Legislature for high-volume
DNA, drugs, toxicology and firearms work - is $7.5 million, down from $7.6
million in 1995.

Things got so bad last year, then-Gov. Don Siegelman released a one-time $1
million grant from his emergency fund to augment the legislative allocation
and prevent the department from having to cut some services.

And on Friday, U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Alabama, announced a one-time $1
million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is expected to
further ease the crunch.

More state funds from the Legislature remain the most pressing need.

Barry Fisher, treasurer of the Consortium of Forensic Sciences
Organizations, said Alabama is hardly alone in its funding problems.

"You could ring up just about any city, county or state agency in the
United States and hear similar tales of woe," said Fisher, +crime+ +lab+
director at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Fisher said he's positive about the future, though, and pointed to U.S.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as an important advocate for the entire field:
Sessions in 2000 pushed the Coverdell Act through Congress, designed to
provide millions to help +backlog+ged +crime+ +labs+ over several years. It
generated only $5 million for the states last year, an amount officials
hope will be increased in years to come.

For now, though, Noggle's agency has seen its total budget - including
federal grants and court fines and fees - drop from nearly $16 million to
$13.6 million for the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, new cases have increased.

The amount of work done on each case has too, especially in the area of DNA
sampling, where technology and equipment have greatly improved. The costs
of that up-to-date equipment, salaries for technicians and health care
insurance have all increased in recent years as well.

Craig Bailey, who heads the department's Montgomery laboratory, one of four
regional +labs+ in the state, works with his staff in two wooden buildings
that look similar to old Army barracks.

The more than 40-year-old buildings are jam-packed with equipment, supplies
and office furniture, leaving little room for work space. Employees hope to
move into a new building when funding becomes available.

"I'd like for us to be a real 21st century +crime+ laboratory like on 'CSI:
Miami,"' Bailey said.

He was referring to the popular television show about a forensics team in
Miami-Dade County - a county that touts a state-of-the-art +crime+ laboratory.

"We can do our job now," he said. "We can do it faster, more efficient and
better with more money."

Phyllis Rollan is section chief of the Montgomery +lab+'s biology division.
She and four others perform DNA sampling on such biological materials as
blood, semen and saliva in murder, sexual assault, burglary and other cases.

The +backlog+ for DNA cases around the state is about 2,000. Last year it
was about 1,750.

"What we do, we do well, but it's going to take a lot more because of the
space and the number of people we have," she said.

One person who wants to see more funding for the forensic sciences
department is Shehane, director of an Alabama organization called Victims
of +Crime+ and Leniency.

Shehane said many relatives of victims of violent +crimes+ suffer during
the often lengthy delay between the time a +crime+ is committed and the
case goes to trial, often because of +backlogs+ that force prosecutors to
wait months and even years on forensics work.

"It's the biggest problem we deal with," she said. "Getting forensics is
the most crucial thing for a district attorney to prosecute the case."

Alabama's new governor, Bob Riley, said he is aware of the problem of the
department's +backlog+ and plans to take care of it.

"I'm being told that $2 or $3 million will allow the forensics department
to give timely results back to state agencies and we're going to do that,"
Riley said. "It's inconceivable to ask someone who went through a rape to
wait two or three years to allow processing of information that will allow
the case to be prosecuted."

But veterans of the forensic sciences department like Bailey say that,
though encouraged by Riley's remarks, they have received promises of
adequate funding for years.

Despite increased visibility with the advent of DNA sampling and popular
television shows like "Crossing Jordan," Bailey said many people, including
many politicians, aren't really sure what it is the department does.

"We're just not on the radar screen," he said.