GBI Crime Lab

I'm sure mom would be upset with me for posting this picture for all to see. It was taken in the early to mid-nineties (remember when glamour shots were popular?). She would probably say something to the effect of, "Chirsty, are you crazy? Don't use that picture. Look at my hair!"

On to the latest . . . . . . For those of you who live in the central GA area, I hope you saw the news reports yesterday (07/03/06). It was reported the backlog at the Crime Lab is shrinking and the average turn around time is 30 days.

If you have read this blog before you know that is not true in my mom's case. As of today, my mother's body was found 94 days ago (equaling 3 months and 3 days) and we are still waiting on the Crime Lab. I know the Crime Lab did not receive evidence the day her body was found, but surely it was within a week or so. Without a doubt it was not 60 days later. So why the delay with this case?

This is the story as it was reported on 13WMAZ:
Law enforcement agencies around the state say they are seeing improvements in wait times for getting test results back from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Crime Lab. The shorter wait time comes more than a year after the backlog of cases at the Crime Lab reached 30-thousand. Budget cuts caused the backlog began growing in 2003 and left law enforcement agencies complaining that it led to delays in court proceedings. In some cases, the backlog was responsible for criminals being returned to the streets to re-offend while officials waited for crime lab results. The backlog now stands at about five-thousand cases. In most cases, the wait for results is only 30 days. G-B-I Crime Lab Director Dan Kirk calls that an accomplishment. He says over the past two years, new lab workers and the outsourcing of some tests have made a difference. Law enforcement agencies say they have noticed. Monroe County Sheriff John Cary Bittick says his deputies have stopped complaining about the slow turnaround of results.