Evidence sits in a secured room at West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston, waiting to be examined for law enforcement agencies from all over the state.
Evidence sits in a secured room at West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston, waiting to be examined for law enforcement agencies from all over the state.
There are guns that need to be inspected, drug samples that need to be analyzed and DNA evidence that needs to be tested.
If a crime is committed tomorrow and evidence goes to the State Police Crime Lab soon after, investigators can expect a long wait on results.
Chemist Carrie Kirkpatrick examines evidence at the lab. Since July 2002, 14 civilian analysts have quit, requiring recruits to be trained each time, officials say.
To examine most of the evidence now at the lab would take about three years, said Soraya McClung, director of the lab.
"Currently there are about 650 cases where there could be DNA evidence that needs tests performed," said Lt. H.B. Myers, supervisor of the lab's biochemistry section. "I often send out lists of cases to agencies to see which are active and need a response. We work cases to priorities."
The reason for the backlog is the high rate of turnover among the lab's scientists because of better-paying jobs elsewhere, McClung said.
The state Department of Homeland Security is asking the state Legislature for about $250,000 to increase pay for the lab's civilian employees in hopes of retaining them, said State Police Col. David L. Lemmon.
An additional $110,000 is needed to hire three more employees in the lab, McClung said.
"The backlog of cases is something that really shouldn't go on," Lemmon said. "Unfortunately we are in a situation where we have a lot more evidence coming in than we have the ability to process."
Two cases have recently brought attention to the backlog at the crime lab.
Huntington police have repeatedly said they were waiting for results from the lab in the case of college student Leah Hickman, whose body was found in the basement of her apartment in December.
Police have been kept up to date on test results in the Hickman case as the tests have been run, Myers said.
"My part of the work is completed," he said. "I don't have a report. It's a long process. ... My guess is, when they have the report on their desk, they are not going to release much information. The more they release, the more information is passed along to potential suspects."
In January, the trial of Fayette County resident Victor Martin had to be postponed because the lab hadn't tested the alleged murder weapon. Martin, 56, is charged with the shooting deaths of three men found on the road in front of his property in Hico.
The firearm could have been examined in time for the original trial date had the lab been properly informed, said Lt. R.K. Taylor, quality manager for the lab.
Prosecutors in the case called the crime lab on a Friday and asked that the evidence be expedited, then the following week informed the judge in the case that the lab didn't have the evidence examined, Taylor said.
"We can't do it in a day," Taylor said. "Yes we have a backlog, but if prosecutors follow the steps in place in a timely fashion, we have the ability to get the work done."
It is important in such cases that there is constant communication among investigators, prosecutors and the lab, Myers said.
A pricy job market
Evidence sits in a secured room at West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston, waiting to be examined for law enforcement agencies from all over the state.
There are guns that need to be inspected, drug samples that need to be analyzed and DNA evidence that needs to be tested.
If a crime is committed tomorrow and evidence goes to the State Police Crime Lab soon after, investigators can expect a long wait on results.
To examine most of the evidence now at the lab would take about three years, said Soraya McClung, director of the lab.
"Currently there are about 650 cases where there could be DNA evidence that needs tests performed," said Lt. H.B. Myers, supervisor of the lab's biochemistry section. "I often send out lists of cases to agencies to see which are active and need a response. We work cases to priorities."
The reason for the backlog is the high rate of turnover among the lab's scientists because of better-paying jobs elsewhere, McClung said.
The state Department of Homeland Security is asking the state Legislature for about $250,000 to increase pay for the lab's civilian employees in hopes of retaining them, said State Police Col. David L. Lemmon.
An additional $110,000 is needed to hire three more employees in the lab, McClung said.
"The backlog of cases is something that really shouldn't go on," Lemmon said. "Unfortunately we are in a situation where we have a lot more evidence coming in than we have the ability to process."
Two cases have recently brought attention to the backlog at the crime lab.
Huntington police have repeatedly said they were waiting for results from the lab in the case of college student Leah Hickman, whose body was found in the basement of her apartment in December.
Police have been kept up to date on test results in the Hickman case as the tests have been run, Myers said.
"My part of the work is completed," he said. "I don't have a report. It's a long process. ... My guess is, when they have the report on their desk, they are not going to release much information. The more they release, the more information is passed along to potential suspects."
In January, the trial of Fayette County resident Victor Martin had to be postponed because the lab hadn't tested the alleged murder weapon. Martin, 56, is charged with the shooting deaths of three men found on the road in front of his property in Hico.
The firearm could have been examined in time for the original trial date had the lab been properly informed, said Lt. R.K. Taylor, quality manager for the lab.
Prosecutors in the case called the crime lab on a Friday and asked that the evidence be expedited, then the following week informed the judge in the case that the lab didn't have the evidence examined, Taylor said.
"We can't do it in a day," Taylor said. "Yes we have a backlog, but if prosecutors follow the steps in place in a timely fashion, we have the ability to get the work done."
It is important in such cases that there is constant communication among investigators, prosecutors and the lab, Myers said.
A pricy job market
Recently a longtime firearms examiner at the lab took a similar position in Ohio and increased his salary by $20,000, McClung said.
That scenario is not atypical, she said.
The salary for a forensic scientist with a master's degree and two years' experience is $33,000, about $35,000 less than at similar facilities in Maryland. The average salary for such a position in West Virginia's bordering states is about $48,000, she said.
"What we need are salaries that are more competitive with surrounding states," she said. "A 17 percent pay increase for our civilians would be about $250,000. That would bring our salaries where they need to be."
With the salary increase, three more employees would cost the state an additional $110,000, McClung said. The additional employees would be spread out among the departments and would help alleviate the backlog caused by turnover, she said.
The department has 17 civilian analysts and six sworn-officer analysts. The sworn officers are on a higher pay scale; it's the civilians the department keeps training and then losing to higher paying jobs, McClung said.
Since July of 2002, 14 civilian analysts have quit, requiring recruits to be trained each time, McClung said.
Only seven of the lab's civilian scientists have more than 10 years' experience at the facility, she said.
Training new analysts also slows the process. It takes about two years to train a firearms expert, she said.
"We tried to get someone already trained in examining firearms but we couldn't attract anyone because of the salary we are offering," McClung said. "The same thing happened in DNA."
Help on the way
The lab will get about $2.1 million of the $44 million awarded to the state from a case involving Perdue Pharma L.P. The Stamford, Conn.-based drug maker and three of its current and former executives agreed in June to pay for misleading the public about the risk of addiction to its drug OxyContin.
The money will go for new equipment, which should help speed up evidence processing, McClung said.
"We will use some of the money to redesign lab space for more efficiency," she said. "Some of the equipment is getting old, and we are going to upgrade."
The new equipment, some of which will be able to process significantly more evidence in a shorter period of time, will help increase efficiency at the lab, she said.
"But its not going to be the answer to the backlog," she said.
Joe Thornton, deputy secretary for the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said he is putting together a group of forensic experts in the state to look at ways to diminish the caseload.
"I don't think this is a situation unique to West Virginia," he said. "My understanding is that a lot of states have a big backlog of cases. The problem is [that] anything we do - establish a new lab, increase the capacity of the current lab - comes at a cost."
To contact staff writer Gary Harki, use e-mail or call 348-5163.
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