Funding for Washington State Patrol Labs and County Medical Examiner Offices
The U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice has awarded grants worth more than $3.5 million to improve forensic science and address DNA testing backlogs in Washington State, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. The grants will help the Washington State Patrol keep up with an increasing number of referrals for DNA testing, and will improve toxicology testing related to the opioid epidemic.
“We are seeing how advanced DNA testing is leading to major breaks in long unsolved criminal investigations," said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “These Department of Justice grants will increase the capacity of WSP and will assist individual counties as they complete investigations. In addition, the funding for quicker turnaround of toxicology screening is critical to all of our efforts to address the impact that fentanyl and other dangerous drugs are having on Washington communities."
The Washington State Patrol Crime Labs will receive a total of $2,347,180 to enhance their capacity to analyze DNA and reduce a backlog of samples waiting for analysis. There are five casework DNA laboratories in Washington: Seattle, Tacoma, Marysville, Vancouver and Spokane. The grant monies will pay for new equipment and space renovation in the Vancouver lab to increase capacity, and will pay additional staff to work there. The grant will also pay for training for workers on the latest DNA advances and will pay for overtime to keep up with cases.
Despite an increase in productivity, the backlog of cases waiting for analysis continues to increase. In 2017, the backlog of cases waiting for analysis increased from 3,168 to 4,562 and the number of new cases sent to the lab was 5,197. The number of new cases was just slightly below the number of new cases submitted in 2016. The turnaround time for requests increased from 83 days to 208 days.
Legislation in 2015 and 2016 increased the number of sexual assault kits that must be analyzed for DNA with the resulting data entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database. The DOJ funding is critical for the WSP labs to keep up with the increased caseload.
A second $500,125 grant is aimed at post-conviction testing of DNA for cases where such testing may exonerate a wrongfully convicted individual.
Finally, a $250,000 grant will pay for additional staff and equipment for the WSP Toxicology Laboratory. The lab currently has a backlog of more than 2,650 cases with a turnaround of 75 days. The opioid crisis has increased requests for analysis 45 percent over the last five years. The lab is critical to identifying new synthetic opioids that are being trafficked in our communities.
Additional information about the grant and WSP forensic laboratories please contact WSP’s Phil Hodge (206) 262-6020 or Mary Keller (206) 262-6005.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
