Re: 9/16/09 - Record-Journal: Funding urged for Meriden forensics lab
Funding urged for Meriden forensics lab
By: George Moore, Record-Journal staff
09/16/2009
MERIDEN - While DNA analysis is looked to as a major tool in criminal investigations, the state's forensics lab in Meriden still faces a backlog of thousands of samples that someday may aid in solving crimes.
The backlog, coupled with the recent murder of Yale graduate student Annie Le, prompted the parents of another murder victim to call for more funding for the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory, on Colony Street.
On Monday, the parents of murder victim Suzanne Jovin wrote an open letter to Gov. M. Jodi Rell advocating an increase in funding to the lab to aid in solving recent crimes and cold cases. No one has ever been convicted in the 1998 killing of Jovin, a Yale undergraduate.
"This facility, once regarded as a leading forensic unit in the country, is suffering from understaffing and inadequate funding," wrote Thomas and Donna Jovin. "As a consequence, the unit is struggling to satisfy the needs of ongoing and emerging investigations, not to speak of 'cold cases' such as the murder of our daughter."
The laboratory faces a backlog of about 22,000 DNA samples, according to Public Safety Commissioner John Danaher III. Many of those samples, however, do not represent crimes, since they were taken from convicted felons for the sake of creating a DNA database, Danaher said in an interview Wednesday.
In response to the Jovins' letter, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a written statement that the state recently dedicated $2 million in federal stimulus funding to the lab, which will "greatly expedite the rate of processing DNA." She also expressed sympathy for the Le and Jovin families.
About $1.8 million will be used to preserve 11 existing DNA analysis positions that otherwise would have been lost this year. About $170,000 will be used to expedite the collection of DNA information from inmates incarcerated for serious crimes, which would add four new temporary positions. The state will use that information to create a database, against which evidence collected at crime scenes can be compared.
The funding will strengthen the lab's ability to investigate crimes, said Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot.
"Not only would it help addressing the backlog, but it would also address employment," he said.
Danaher said the funding, along with a nuclear DNA staff that has been doubled this year, will allow the lab to tackle the backlog in about two years.
"I don't want any backlog," he said. "My goal is to wipe this out."
Samples taken in connection with violent crimes jump to the head of the list, Danaher said. The Le case, for instance, has been prioritized. The lab is examining DNA that police gathered Tuesday from Raymond Clark III, a Yale research technician whom police called a "person of interest" in the Le case.
But many DNA samples are also taken to shed light on nonviolent crimes, like burglary, he said.
While Danaher wants to wipe out the backlog, he said he is also working to make the collection of DNA more efficient. Danaher, for instance, has argued that the courts - not the forensics lab - should collect samples from people who have been ordered by a judge to surrender DNA information. That would make it impossible for someone to dodge a court order to provide a sample, he said. Currently, people facing such a court order must go to the laboratory to provide the DNA sample.
Danaher also worked with the Department of Correction to have DNA samples of inmates collected upon admittance to prison, rather than at the end of their terms, as was previously practiced.
The Le case has attracted widespread attention and has made national headlines. Information that the lab generates for all cases, including high-profile crimes like the Le case, is controlled by a strict chain of custody, said Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance. Information generated about the Le case, for instance, will be provided directly to the New Haven Police Department and no other agency, Vance said.
There are 22 people working in the DNA analysis section of the laboratory, which also has employees who specialize in ballistics, arson cases and other services. In 2005, the lab's nuclear DNA casework unit completed about 330 case requests, according to the lab Web site.
Henry Lee, the famed former director of the state forensics lab, said Wednesday that the key to a successful lab is training, especially when new, more-advanced equipment, is introduced.
"You still need training for the laboratory and the new technology," he said.
gmoore@record-journal.com
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