State Crime Lab, Department of Health to possibly merge at URI

04/17/09 - The University of Rhode Island might be getting a "Crime Scene Investigation"-spin, as the House Finance Committee works to combine the state crime lab facilities on the Kingston campus.Currently, Rhode Island forensic investigations are split between the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory on campus, and the state Department of Health, each of which handles different types of work.

The Department of Health tests bodily fluids and evaluate substances believed to be drugs. The URI crime lab focuses on analyzing fingerprints, fibers and hair, as well as ballistics testing.

"The idea has always come up, as long as I've been working here, to combine them," Dennis Hilliard, director of the state crime lab at URI, said. "Even though the idea isn't new, its come to a culmination because the Department of Health was looking to move their forensic lab to the Department of Public Safety under the state police."

However, there were objections to combining forensic investigation under the jurisdiction of the police.

According to The National Academy of Sciences' February study of national forensic labs, many testing facilities are now under the umbrella of the police force.

"There might be a perceived bias by the public, that the labs give the answer you want to hear," Hilliard said. "Labs should be strongly independent of those sources-Rhode Island is an example of this."

While this idea was presented before the House, many defense groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, objected on the grounds of creating a bias during prosecution, Hilliard said. With this objection, an alternative was suggested to combine the Department of Health's laboratory with the one at URI.

"If the lab were to be at URI, it would be under an academic umbrella not a defense umbrella, and it would solve the defense community's problem with it," Hilliard said.

The equipment and personnel from the lab currently in Providence, R.I. would need to be consolidated at URI.

While plans originally called for a new building housing both facilities to be constructed in Cranston, R.I, lack of funding stopped the project short.

Instead, the combined facilities are to be placed in Fogarty Hall. With the pharmacy department planning on moving to a new building in the next few years, Fogarty will be open for consolidation.

While the current staff would nearly double with the addition of Providence employees, the laboratories would also be looking to hire another two to three personnel to work on the larger amount of cases the new center would be able to take on.

"The demand in DNA analysis has increased dramatically in the last three to five years," Hilliard said. "The judicial community has seen the use of DNA testing. It's the ''CSI' effect' where juries expect to see all kinds of forensic work done in a case."

This backlog of forensic work takes more manpower than machinery, so new positions in DNA and drug chemistry will need to be filled.

"The health department has been losing people over the years, they need four people working in DNA full time," Hilliard said. The department currently has two associates in this area. The consolidated crime laboratory, combined with the need for new researchers, may mean more internship opportunities for URI students, Hilliard said.

"Having the lab under URI's umbrella, URI students would probably get first opportunity at getting an internships," he said. "They would get a leg up."

The consolidation, slated for completion by 2010, is projected to cost between $2.8 and 3 million. The proposal remains up for consideration by the House and the Director of Health.

"We're hoping that the government sees that it's a viable option, and that the university accepts the responsibility of extra administrative work," Hilliard said. "It needs the university, governor's and legislature's support before it can happen.