Patrick: 'Significant progress' made at crime lab
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff
The State Police crime laboratory, criticized in recent years for inefficiency and mishandling of DNA and other evidence, has dramatically slashed its backlog and turnaround time by increasing staff and purchasing robotic work stations, Governor Deval Patrick and other law enforcement officials said today.
"We have made significant process in a short time, and I thank all levels of law enforcement and our prosecutors for their partnership in that effort," Patrick said today, addressing a crowd of about 600 people at the 14th Annual Massachusetts Prosecutors Conference at the Seaport Hotel in South Boston. "We know that the work that takes place at those labs is a force multiplier."
According to statistics provided by the State Police, it took an average of 91 days to process a single DNA case in late 2006. By the beginning of this year, a single case took an average of 60 days. In the first four months of 2006, 112 cases were completed. That figured soared to 330 in the first four months of 2008.
The president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, Michael O'Keefe, said the crime lab and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner have been vastly improved, but added "any entity that has been neglected for many years isn't going to be repaired overnight. It may take a number of years to repair, but we are on the right path."
The crime lab has recently analyzed DNA evidence that officials said has been important to several cases, and crucial to at least one ongoing case, suspected serial killer Alex F. Scesny.
Scesny, 38, is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to a charge stemming from the alleged rape of a girlfriend in a West Boylston motel last year. The Berlin resident has been declared a person of interest in the slayings of six women in Worcester and Middlesex counties.
