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Versions of this article also appeared in: The National Post, page A6: A-G drawn into debate over 'mismanaged' forensics service The Winnipeg Free Press, page A2: Auditor asked to probe RCMP forensics conflict PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RCMP forensics lab inefficient: retired officers: Commissioners claim DNA data system 'world-class' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA -- The House of Commons justice committee will today ask the auditor-general to investigate conflicting testimony between RCMP commissioners and two retired investigators, who say the force's forensics services are grossly mismanaged and bogged down in a major backlog of DNA cases. Last week the retired forensics officers, Gary Mcleod and David Hepworth, appeared before the justice committee and said the RCMP wastes money through an inefficient forensics system that in February had 959 cases still pending, with the average case turnaround taking 85 days too long. Despite increasing its resources and staff in a 2000 re-organization, the labs have since created a backlog of DNA cases that has increased annually, they said. RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli told the committee last November Ottawa runs a "world-class" DNA data system. "There is no backlog in terms of DNA analysis," he said, according to the committee record. In March, Zaccardelli and Deputy Commissioner Peter Martin again appeared before the committee and re-affirmed that position. A letter -- a move initiated by Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz -- will be sent to Auditor-General Sheila Fraser today requesting the investigation, said the clerk of the justice committee. Bill C-18, which is now before the justice committee, would further strain an already troubled forensics system because the legislation would expand the use of DNA evidence to break-and-enter crime scenes, Hepworth said from his home in Regina, Sask. Wednesday. The RCMP uses sophisticated robotics to speed up DNA analysis, and the labs have the capacity to process more than 25,000 samples per year, assistant commissioner of forensics Joe Buckle told CanWest News last week. The forensics labs far exceeded that last year he said, when it processed an additional 157,000 samples for the Robert Pickton pig-farm investigation, where police searched for clues to 50 missing prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. But Buckle, who noted forensics services is adding 32 staff to increase productivity, said there is no problem with the current number of files to be processed and the RCMP prioritizes its urgent cases. Hepworth and Mcleod say the RCMP continues to define fewer cases as urgent and more as routine, which puts more cases on hold. The number of cases now identified as urgent is one-seventh of what they defined last year, Hepworth said. "They started restricting the cases that they identify as urgent," Hepworth said. Hepworth and Mcleod each have more than 30 years experience in RCMP forensics, and both recently retired. Their research includes contacts within the RCMP, they say. The auditor-general's report of 2000 said the RCMP's average turnaround time of 101 days for a forensics case was inadequate. Police and prosecutors were concerned about these response times, according to the report, and only 15 per cent of cases were processed within the 30-day standard. -------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS RELEASE
- May 3, 2005 NEWS RELEASE
- May 9, 2005 |