Marijuana Policy Project

The backlog of cases at GBI crime labs are causing delays for Georgia law enforcement agencies, and in some cases authorities are waiting more than six months for tests on drug samples.

"Public safety has taken a big cut, just like everybody else, and it's having an adverse impact," Monroe County Sheriff J.C. Bittick said.

The GBI does the majority of forensic work for Georgia's public safety agencies, providing, among other things, toxicology reports and tests on DNA and drug samples. But during the past year, the backlog in GBI labs has almost tripled.

From July 2003 to July 2004, the backlog increased from 10,740 to 28,570 cases, according to the GBI. The delays have held up court proceedings and even let drug dealers back on the street, Bittick and others say.

Forty-five cases out of 250 that went before a grand jury in Monroe County in August were continued because of lab delays.

"It backs up the whole system," Bittick said. "They've got cases over here waiting to be tried when more cases are coming in."

Handwriting analysis is so slow, his office no longer uses it, he said. But the delays affect not just law enforcement, but also people waiting for toxicology reports for insurance settlements in the deaths of their loved ones, Bittick said.

This is not the first time there's been a backlog. In the late 1990s, it was close to 30,000 before the GBI's budget was increased, said Dan Kirk, deputy director of the GBI's division of forensic science.

However, from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2005, the forensic division's budget has decreased by 15 percent because of state budget cuts. And as the budget has dwindled, positions have gone unfilled, although Gov. Sonny Perdue amended the 2005 budget to add money for 15 positions.

Those employees will take a year to train when hired, Kirk said. Even with those positions filled, 30 of the division's 280 positions will remain open, he said.

State Rep. Curtis Jenkins, D-Forsyth, said that the House Public Safety Committee plans to meet this fall and discuss the GBI's budget.

"I don't know what we'll be able to do," he said. "It depends on what revenue there is."

He said his understanding is that the budget has been cut across the board, and that includes the GBI.

"The problem with that is some departments have what might be considered more critical roles than others, and law enforcement is one of those critical roles," Jenkins said.

Even if the labs got no more cases, it would take six or seven months to catch up on the current backlog, Kirk said. Although the lengths of delays vary from lab to lab, the biggest backlog is at the Atlanta lab.

Requests to speed up certain cases have been met, Kirk said, but law enforcement agencies are still not getting results as fast they would like.

"Will they ever? I don't know if there's an answer to that," he said.

Kirk said he'd like to see all results out in 30 days, something the labs are able to do 40 percent of the time. Bittick said 60 days is acceptable.

To help cut back on the workload, the GBI stopped testing marijuana in July, something the GBI trains other law enforcement agencies to do, Kirk said.

The crime lab in Macon currently has nine employees, compared with the 14 it had in 1999, said Shawn Davis, manager of Macon's GBI crime lab. There are three fewer scientists testing drug samples and none doing toxicology, Davis said.

Richard Milam, district attorney of the Towaliga Circuit, which includes Monroe County, said the delays have put some drug dealers back on the street.

State law requires that bond be set if a defendant doesn't go before a grand jury within 90 days of being charged, Milam said. But since the verification of evidence takes more than 90 days, bond is being set and defendants are being released.

"We're having a situation where they're re-offending while out on bond," he said. "It's standard now, when they get in trouble, they need money to get out of trouble."

Kim Schwartz, an assistant district attorney in Bibb County, said there have been other problems with getting lab results. During the last few years, the GBI began only testing one sample per case, she said. So, if the lab receives green leafy substance, pills and a white substance, they'll only test the white substance, which is likely to be cocaine or methamphetamine - substances that carry a more severe penalty.

"If they don't test all three substances, we can't prosecute all three (charges)," she said. "That's a problem, if you want maximum penalties for your bad guys, which we do."

She said she hopes the GBI's decision to stop testing marijuana changes things. Last week, she was surprised when she received test results on evidence submitted only two weeks before.

"I'm cautiously optimistic and encouraged by this," she said.