A West Coast RCMP lab that analyzes crime-related DNA samples is slow to deliver results, sometimes impeding court cases, says a new review. <\/p>\n
\"It took between three to four months for a DNA result from the time a sample was sent to the lab,\" says the study of the Vancouver lab, ordered by the federal Justice Department. <\/p>\n
\"Investigators felt that the average turnaround time was simply too long, and that it could be improved upon...\" <\/p>\n
\"One of the reasons provided for why this amount of time was too long was related to pending court dates where results coming after a court date would not be helpful.\" <\/p>\n
The RCMP's forensic labs, which include DNA testing, have come under sharp scrutiny in Parliament in recent years, after two reports from the auditor general and one from a Senate committee found they were poorly-run and too often backlogged. <\/p>\n
In May last year, the cash-strapped Mounties announced they were closing half their labs in Regina, Winnipeg and Halifax to trim $3.5 million a year from their budget, consolidating operations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Ottawa. <\/p>\n
At the time, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the move would make the labs more efficient and reduce backlogs. <\/p>\n
Turnaround times for DNA samples across the country rose in the mid-2000s, the auditor general found in a 2007 report, as the labs struggled to keep up with police demands. By 2006, police detectives were waiting almost 114 days on average for results. <\/p>\n
The review of the Vancouver lab, which looked at 587 DNA files, found little change in turnaround times an average of 107 days for the period 2006 to 2011. A few files took more than a year. <\/p>\n
The researchers also found no clear rules about which DNA samples were shunted to the top of queue, whether by severity of the crime or pending court date. <\/p>\n
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Read more here: A West Coast RCMP lab that analyzes crime-related DNA samples is slow to deliver results, sometimes impeding court cases, says a new review. \"It took between three to four months for a DNA result from the time a sample was sent to the lab,\" says the study of the Vancouver lab, ordered by the federal Justice Department Continue reading
\nDNA lab's slow results impeding B.C. court cases<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"