SATI e-News:  February 4, 2005

Crime Lab Backlog Targeted by Georgia’s Governor

 
Georgia’s Governor hopes to cut the GBI’s persistent crime lab backlog—more than 32,000 tests were behind schedule as of last month—by providing $4.4 million for more scientists and outsourcing of some of the work.
 
The backlog has created problems for prosecutors, who have been forced to drop criminal cases because they didn’t get timely evidence analysis, and for relatives, who need autopsy results to claim death benefits. The governor told business leaders and later police chiefs that he wanted to spend $1.4 million to hire 20 more scientists and lab technicians beginning July 1. He also wants to spend $3 million to pay private labs to conduct tests on evidence collected in death investigations and sexual assault and drug cases.