DNA backlog at Minnesota crime lab spurs calls for more funding

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Minnesota's premier crime lab at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in Saint Paul has nearly 4,000 criminal cases waiting for analysis and has a 140-day wait for results. That's the word today from BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, who joined Ramsey County law enforcement officials to call for more than $11 million in new funding to add 30 staff to the BCA, including 10 new DNA analysis technicians. Cops and prosecutors say it's a key part of fighting crime and cannot wait any longer. Our reporter Tim Nelson was there and joins us to talk about what's going on. Hey, Tim.

TIM NELSON: Hi, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Wow, a 3,800-case backlog at the lab? What's going on there?

TIM NELSON: Well, it's kind of a push-pull thing. For one part, technology like DNA has just been a huge success. You may be used to seeing it in like cold case murder investigations or complex sexual assault cases, but now it's finding use in all kinds of cases, like checking a deployed airbag for DNA to identify a driver in a criminal vehicular homicide case-- prove someone was behind the wheel when a car crashed, or, for instance, linking a gun found under a car seat to a passenger in a vehicle without a shot being fired.

There's simply more uses for this DNA, but there have also been these galloping increases in serious gun crimes and shootings, in the Twin Cities in particular, those traditional cases of gravest concern. And DNA analysis is becoming one of the most reliable pieces of information about who did what. Now, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans says the BCA Lab, which handles these complex cases, just can't keep up anymore.

So he talked about between 2015 and 2019, violent crime and weapons cases submitted to the lab went up 10% every year. In 2020, it jumped nearly 30%. And that growth has persisted.

And just as an example, Cathy, the BCA took in about 3,000 biological samples in 2011. It was nearly 9,000 10 years later in 2021. So Evans and the BCA, they're asking lawmakers, who are looking at, like you said, a multi-billion dollar budget surplus, they want to amp up that capacity with $6 million in the next fiscal year and $5.1 million the year after that.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so what will that money buy? Did they say?

TIM NELSON: Well, like you said, Evans says it's 31 full-time positions, including 10 DNA analysis technicians. What he wants to be able to do is turn around DNA samples to criminal investigators in 30 days statewide for whatever crimes they come up with. Right now, the average turnaround time, like you said, 142 days. And that's including the rush cases that have an urgent public safety need and they're getting through real quick.

We're talking a five-month wait here. And even if they get the money, Evans says, the goal is to cut that turnaround time to a month by the end of 2025. So in the short term, this is going to be kind of a crisis in criminal investigations. And again, we're not just talking about cold cases or murders, but increasingly all kinds of cases, you know? County Attorney John Choi noted that only about a third of non-fatal shootings are getting solved right now.

JOHN CHOI: One of the things that we have experienced as a part of our work as prosecutors is that we're getting less cooperation from victims and from witnesses-- I think in many instances because the victims and the witnesses don't feel safe participating in a prosecution because they think that they might be retaliated against. But if we can't get that type of information in evidence, then what is really critical is to be able to ensure that we get the forensic evidence.

TIM NELSON: So it's not just crime here, but victims. We are changing. Choi said it's becoming such an issue that Ramsey County is actually funding its own DNA tech at the state lab to try and speed up those cases in Ramsey County and get people charged and off the street.

CATHY WURZER: Wow, OK. So we've heard a lot in the past about the big backlog in sexual assault cases. Is that included in this large number?

TIM NELSON: It's similar. Like you said, a few years back, there was this big backlog, specifically in sexual assault evidence processing. And the BCA hired more staff to catch up with that. They've been working through that backlog, and cases of serious harm still get fast-tracked.

But the issue is that now, this torrent of evidence is beyond that. You remember, it went from 3,000 cases to nearly 9,000 cases overall per year in just a decade. And officials say this makes a difference. Again, noting that trend in non-fatal shootings-- not that many get solved-- one of the things Choi noted is that there's likely a small group of people doing these crimes, and even one intervention can make a difference.

JOHN CHOI: I mean, if people start pulling the trigger and they're not getting caught, I think it just-- it becomes a bigger problem. And none of that's going to change unless we actually invest in the investigative process and the resources that these agencies need.

TIM NELSON: So part of this is if they can actually start identifying and arresting those perpetrators, they may actually make a dent in the demand for DNA analysis on the use of the criminal justice system and society overall.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so where does this proposal go next?

TIM NELSON: It's part of Governor Tim Walz's budget proposal for the next biennium, and as you know, that's getting debated as we speak up at the Capitol.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, yes, it is. All right, Tim Nelson, thank you so much.

TIM NELSON: You're welcome.