Pubdate: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 Source: Beaufort Gazette, The (SC) Copyright: 2002 The Beaufort Gazette Contact: http://www.beaufortgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1806 Author: Chris Bender, Gazette staff writer COUNTY DRUG LAB OPEN FOR CASES Beaufort County Sheriff's deputies will have a powerful new weapon against drug-related crimes starting today. After several months of waiting, the Beaufort County Drug Lab will begin looking at cases today as chemist Renita Berry prepares to tackle the backlog of 400 drug cases. "We're going to get those back from SLED and I'll work on those cases here," Berry said. Since January, Berry has been working on some Beaufort County drug cases at the State Law Enforcement Division lab in Columbia. Today she'll begin work in the new lab at the Law Enforcement Center. The lab has been under construction for several months. Sheriff P.J. Tanner wanted to open it in October, but ran into some obstacles. One concerned the purchase of a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, the main instrument used for analyzing drugs. The Sheriff's Office wanted a more expensive machine, but the one they got was compatible with labs around the state. "That's important because if there is a problem with the machine or I am having trouble on a particular case, I can take it to another lab and have the evidence analyzed by the same type of machine," Berry said. Also, the refit of the room took longer than expected. Berry said they expected it to take only a day or two, but the electricians had a lot of work because of the equipment needed for the room. With the drug lab and an in-house chemist, Sheriff's Office officials expect cases to move quickly. The lab also will be used by other law enforcement agencies in the 14th Judicial Circuit, which also includes Jasper, Hampton, Colleton and Allendale counties. In order to move a case forward, police must have a positive identification of the controlled substance, said Master Sgt. Marvin Morrison, commander of the Beaufort County Drug Task Force. "Until you've got (drug evidence) qualified, the solicitor can't go forward," Morrison said. In the past, waiting for test results to come back from the SLED lab has caused some cases to fall through. "You lose cases because witnesses go missing or officers move on to other departments," Morrison said. "It's very frustrating." The drug lab comes after more than a year of work by Tanner to get funding for a Beaufort County facility. Tanner said the lab will give law enforcement the ability to have drug cases ready for the solicitor in 30 days or less. "Establishing a drug lab in house will exponentially speed up the judicial process for our county's drug cases," Tanner said. "That means more local drug dealers will be behind bars sooner versus back out selling as we wait to prosecute them." That's something Morrison hopes will affect the drug problem in the county. "Once they see faster adjudication of cases, I think there will be a drop in the number of dealers in Beaufort County," Morrison said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl