Crime testing backlogs surge with "reforms"

A Nassau deputy medical examiner on Monday said backlogs and turnaround times in crime testing have ballooned since the Democratic majority in Albany amended the state's criminal justice laws.

Besides eliminating bail for most crimes, progressive Albany Democrats also directed that most evidence relating to the alleged crime be turned over to suspects and their lawyers within 15 days of arraignment--the date when the suspect pleads guilty or not guilty.

But many crime laboratory tests, such as those used to identify seized substances or to confirm that a driver was impaired by drugs, takes more than 15 days,  Carolyn Kelly, deputy medical examiner for laboratories, told the Nassau County legislature's Public Safety Committee. 

"When this legislation was drafted, 15 days was not realistic by any measure," she said.

Legislator Steve Rhoads (R-Wantagh) asked, "In an ideal world is it possible to meet a 15-day time frame?"

Kelly responded, "No it is not possible."

She said Nassau's toxicology laboratory in the medical examiner's building "engages in analysis for drunk and drugged driving" while the county's new crime laboratory in Westbury conducts DNA analysis, identifies latent fingerprints and analyzes controlled and seized substances.

Kelly said that state lawmakers did not request input from any of New York's crime laboratory directors before adopting the new discovery rules in Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget last year. Republican state lawmakers voted against the changes.

As Nassau struggled to accomodate with the new mandates, "Backlogs started to increase in the second half of the year,"  Kelly said.

* Turnaround time for analysis of controlled substances and seized drugs, has increased from 30 days a few months ago to 60 days now.

* Turnaround time for certain testing in the toxicology lab that had taken 50 days last year now takes 80 days.

* Turnaround time for analyzing latent finger prints was 37 days in January last year. It's now 60 days.

* Turnaround time for DNA analysis, which was 60 days in Jan. 2019, is now up to 112 days this January.

With respect to drunk and drugged driving, she said the new rules now require the scientists who analyze the results to turnover ten years of their own proficiency testing. The rules also mandate six months of calibration records before and after the test for the instrument used.

"Proper calibration would suggest everything was working properly, " she explained. But in the past, only 30 to 60 days of calibration records were required.

The new rules "will further delay things," Kelly said.

She said every laboratory operates with a backlog in regard to chemistry drug analysis.

"Ours just has increased steadily since the rollout of the discovery legislation," she said. The current backlog is over 400 while it was 170 at the end of September.

She added the caveat that certain simple tests for alcohol, take five to eight days, while sometimes a substance can be identified in a day.

Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy has started an online petition to stop the new discovery rules, which he said is forcing his village to increase taxes 5.7 percent.

Nassau Republican legislators have called for a hearing Thursday on the effect of the criminal justice reforms because of numerous reports about suspects committing more crimes after being arrested and released without bail.