Pubdate: Thu, 07 Aug 2003 Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA) Copyright: 2003 Athens Newspapers Inc Contact: http://www.onlineathens.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1535 FAILURE TO FUND CRIME LAB CONSTITUTES AN ACT OF STATE NEGLIGENCE Flagging tax collections are forcing state officials to reassess their priorities for spending. Just this week, Gov. Sonny Purdue ordered department heads to cut their budgets by 2.5 percent and find ways to reduce next year's spending plans by 5 percent. We applaud the governor's prudence in acting decisively to deal with revenue shortfalls in the months that lie ahead. And while few state officials are willing to admit it, there is fat that can be cut without hurting performance or leaving needs unmet. Non-essential travel, and perks such as state-provided vehicles, cell phones, lap-top computers and other luxuries readily come to mind as spending reduction targets. But there's one area of state government - law enforcement - that must be spared from further cuts. To the contrary, this is an area where funding already is inadequate and where additional appropriations are urgently needed and deserved. And nowhere in state law enforcement is the need for operating income more critical than in the system of statewide crime labs run by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Inadequate funding has left the crime labs far short of the number of trained personnel to keep up with the demands of the justice system. Crime lab officials say they have a backlog of cases and that more than 11,000 of these have been pending for more than 30 days. To catch up, at least 109 more forensic scientists, technicians and lab workers are needed to handle the workload. The price tag for additional personnel is $4.8 million. That figure would be much less had not the crime lab budget already suffered a $3.4 million cut over the last two years. An understaffed crime lab operation will have serious consequences for the people of Georgia. The GBI already has notified law enforcement agencies that because of the backlog of cases, it will no longer test cases of suspected marijuana if less than 10 pounds are confiscated. Ten pounds is a lot of marijuana, and people caught with that much in their possession are serious about dealing. Yet, if you can't prove that seized contraband is a drug, judges are going to set free a lot of potentially dangerous criminals. Drug pushers aren't the only offenders who'll benefit from the personnel problems at the crime lab. Delays at the crime lab translate into trial delays. Unreasonable delays in going to trial are grounds for dismissal of criminal charges in our system of justice. Such delays can work against defendants as well. Erroneous eyewitness reports and faulty evidence have kept innocent people in jail for extended periods of time when DNA evidence and other crime lab reports could prove they had been falsely accused. Ironically, Georgia has spent millions of dollars over the past several years to construct new crime lab facilities around the state, but now that they're built, there's not enough money to hire personnel to adequately staff them. Despite all the talk of revenue shortfalls, the state maintains a rainy day reserve fund which can be tapped into if necessary. In any society, keeping criminals off the streets is a necessary function of government, and in a court system that rightfully demands proof of guilt, an efficient forensic criminal science operation is absolutely essential to establishing that proof. It is imperative that state government officials act immediately to provide the funding needed to handle the demands put on Georgia's state crime lab. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens