The Columbus Crime Lab is facing a two-year backlog in drug analysis work, and needs more modern equipment to better keep up with demand, according to Director Claudette Gilman.
Gilman, speaking to the council at its Thursday work session, said the crime lab is losing business due to its backlog, which stretches back to 2020. A major culprit is an outdated gas chromatography/mass spectrometry machine.
Gilman said the crime lab provides services for “25-plus” agencies around the state, and one of the biggest areas is analyzing evidence in drug cases.
“Our drug lab is the workhorse of our lab,” she said. “It provides 90 percent of the services that we do. We are using a GC/MS that was refurbished. It is a 2001 build, using technology from 1996…Eventually, we’re not going to be able to fix it. If it breaks, we’re not going to be able to find parts for it.”
Gilman asked for a new GC/MS, “maybe two, if you’re feeling frisky.”
She estimated the cost per unit at $185,000, but said that cost would get the city a machine that is “a step under” the latest model. In 2020 the same machine cost $155,000.
The lab got 968 cases in 2020, and 26 are still outstanding. By comparison the lab got 1,095 cases in 2021 and has gotten 437 cases so far this year.
That backlog has cost the crime lab a major client already, she said.
“DeSoto County started using us in July 2020,” she said. “From July 2020 to March 2021 they brought 414 cases to us.”
A drug analysis runs $60, she said, meaning that work generated $24,840 for the crime lab.
“They are not going to use us anymore because of our turnaround time,” she said.
Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco asked how much a new machine would matter. Gilman said it would drastically shorten the turnaround.
“We are getting a lot of pill cases, and one pill case took two months of straight running on our one GC/MS,” Gilman said. “That was the only case I could work, but if I had a secondary machine, and possibly a third one, other cases could be running simultaneously.”
“Could we not take out a loan to buy the machine and use the (income) to service the payment?” DiCicco asked.
Chief Financial Officer James Brigham suggested that Gilman come meet with him.
“Let’s sit down and look at the cost of the machines versus the charge you charge, and do a business analysis and bring it back to the council,” he said.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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