Dallas County DA Shifting Costs of Testing to Police Departments

We are see­ing more and more crime lab­o­ra­to­ries charg­ing for analy­sis. It makes per­fect sense in a lab that serves mul­ti­ple law enforce­ment agen­cies. In the case of Dallas County, like Maricopa County, law enforce­ment agen­cies can still send work the state depart­ment of pub­lic safety crime lab­o­ra­to­ries (state police crime labs) for free analy­sis. They just have to wait longer, as the labs deal with back­log issues.

The cause is of course bud­get short­falls. The prob­lem with this “solu­tion” is that the law enforce­ment agen­cies also have bud­get short­falls AND they have never bud­geted for foren­sic ser­vices to begin with.

The Dallas County dis­trict attorney’s office has told area police depart­ments it will no longer pick up the tab for crime lab testing.

For years, the office paid for tests once its pros­e­cu­tors took cases filed by law enforce­ment agen­cies. County com­mis­sion­ers now say a huge bud­get short­fall that once exceeded $60 mil­lion has forced their hand.

“We were eat­ing the cost,” said Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price. “Just put it on Dallas County’s tab.”

Read the full arti­cle here.