Law agencies stuck with surprise lab expenses

They may have to dip into a rainy day fund or turn to private enterprise, but area law enforcement agencies say a state budget-balancing measure won't prevent them from pursuing certain crimes for lack of evidence analysis.

The budget that Gov. Janet Napolitano helped craft cuts the state allocation for the Department of Public Safety crime lab by more than half. It also directs the agency to make up that difference by billing police, fire and sheriff's departments and medical examiner's offices a total of $7.8 million for lab work that, until now, was done for free.

And because the budget deal was not made public until late June, it also came after cities and counties already had adopted their own budget - budgets that never counted on a new bill from DPS.

According to preliminary figures based on the number and type of cases each agency referred to the crime lab last year, the DPS could bill $111,144 to the Yuma Police Department, $87,229 to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office (YCSO), $18,404 to the county Narcotics Task Force overseen by the sheriff's office, $6,949 to San Luis police, $1,690 to Somerton police and $1,029 to Wellton police.

Luckily for the YCSO, the county board of supervisors placed money in contingency for the department to handle unanticipated expenditures, Sheriff Ralph Ogden said.

He said his department will have any necessary evidence processed first and worry about the cost later. "If something needs to go to the lab, it goes to the lab. That's the way it's got to be."

Still, Ogden said, the cutbacks run counter to previous comment from state officials about how the criminal justice system would not be hurt by budget measures.

"I think our real frustration is everyone is saying, 'We were able to balance the budget and not affect the criminal justice system,' and that's baloney."

Officer Clint Norred, a spokesman for the Yuma Police Department, said the question of what to do next will depend on exactly how DPS structures its billing.

One approach is based on the amount of lab work each agency sent to DPS last year. In Yuma's case, that would be more than $112,000.

Another option would be the a la carte approach, with agencies paying for each procedure requested. For example, DPS would charge $87 to analyze a blood sample for alcohol and provide the necessary court testimony. Lab work for "date rape'' drugs would cost $330 each, with biological screening running between $125 and $500 per case.

Norred said if that becomes the billing method, his department will be shopping around to see if a private lab can do the work more cheaply.

"We're going to have to get evidence processed. Whether it's with DPS or a private lab, that remains to be seen."

The city of San Luis had adopted its budget for the police department on June 30, prior to the state budget cutback, said Ernie Lugo, spokesman for that city's police.

"This is an unexpected expense, so this is something that's not budgeted for. We'll have to work with the city administration to figure out a way to cover this."

Lugo said that work sent to the crime lab is "100 percent necessary" and that cutting back on work sent is not an option.

"The evidence that is sent to be tested is what we provide our county attorney for successful prosecutions. It is most important. It is imperative that we have this evidence tested. It's not something we're willing to compromise."

Somerton Police Chief Terry Hollis said he was "shocked" by the proposed lab charges.

"I just got this (news) yesterday," he said Thursday. "I'm at a loss right now. I haven't had time to digest it.

"It's kind of disturbing when the state wants to balance the budget on the back of law enforcement. We'd have to go through our budget and see where we can make some cuts."

He's not sure how money will be found to pay for the charges. "I don't think we'll be losing any officers over this."

Hollis said testing is very expensive but essential.

"If you have a child molestation or a homicide case and you send DNA up to the crime lab, that can be very expensive," he said. But "we have crime victims out there and we have to keep them foremost in our minds. We owe that to them."

Wellton Police Chief Keith Titus was not available for comment Thursday.

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said the proposal to charge to local agencies for evidence analysis goes back on what essentially was a promise made when tax dollars were used to set up the crime lab..

"I think it's a little outrageous,'' said Dever, whose agency would have to pay $137,000 this year under a proposal crafted by DPS. More to the point, he said it could hamper crime-fighting efforts.

"The dangerous part, of course, is that law enforcement agencies may be in a position because of cost to have to kind of 'cherry pick' which cases they're going to send up to the lab for analysis. A lot of potentially useful information and lab analysis that we get that could lead to other convictions down the road is going to be lost.''

Flagstaff Police Chief Brent Cooper, whose agency would need to come up with more than $233,000, said he was particularly upset that no one bothered to tell police chiefs and sheriffs this was even being considered. Now, Cooper said, his department is going to have to figure out how to come up with the cash without scrapping investigations.

"I do pledge to the victims of our community that we will do everything we can within our power to make sure that their cases are processed properly,'' he said.

"We're not in favor of doing this,'' said Deputy DPS Director Pennie Gillette-Stroud. But she said her agency was mandated to pass on that $7.8 million cut because the state's economy has resulted in not enough tax revenues to support all government services.

"There had to be a way to be able to make attempts to balance the budget for the state,'' she said.

Napolitano echoed that theme, citing the $2 billion gap between anticipated revenues and expenses.

"The pain is going to have to be spread in many ways,'' the governor said. "In an ideal situation, sure, you would like to provide those services free of charge. But we weren't dealing with an ideal situation.''

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Apache Junction Police Department, called the more than $121,000 hit to his department "devastating.''

"I don't know where the money will come from,'' he said. "There could be layoffs or less city services in public works, the library or public safety.''

And then there's the option of simply ordering less lab work

"We can't tell a family that their family member is less important than anyone else,'' Kelly said. "It may be a question of Do we send for blood?' (or) Do we go for latent (prints)?'"

Even the Tucson Police Department, which has its own crime lab, will be hit to the tune of about $91,000 because it sends blood and urine samples to DPS for drug analysis. Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said his agency will have to find the money somewhere to ensure that all cases are prosecuted.

"I don't think victims should have to pay the price'' of the budget crunch, he said.

And Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said his agency, facing a potential $354,000 bill, may follow the lead of Mesa and Scottsdale police who have set up their own crime labs.

Arpaio also pointed out that DPS will be operating a new statewide photo radar system which Napolitano has predicted should bring in $90 million during its first partial year of operation. Those anticipated revenues were not considered in balancing the budget.

"Why doesn't DPS take some of the money they're going to make with photo radar enforcement and put it to this?'' he asked. "Why now mess with law enforcement and make them pay for crime analysis?''

The change affects not just police but any agency that needs lab work. That includes the Pima County Attorney's Office which sometimes requests DNA or fingerprint analysis.

"We understand that the state is having a tight year,'' said David Berkman, the agency's chief criminal deputy. "But we're having a tight year with our budget.''

Berkman noted, though, that the anticipated bill for his agency is less than $8,000, something he said it will be able to absorb.

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Sun staff members Darin Fenger and John Vaughn contributed to this report.