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: Versions of this article also appeared in the Regina Leader Post, Ottawa
Citizen, Calgary Herald and Montreal Gazette
PUBLICATION: National Post -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RCMP forensic services under the microscope: Cases 'backlogged': Auditor-General to audit unit over allegations of delays -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA - Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will investigate opposition allegations that the RCMP's forensic services are bogged down by delays and backlogs. Ms. Fraser confirmed this week in a letter to John Maloney, chair of the Commons justice committee, an audit will be launched into the RCMP's Forensic Laboratory Services "with a view to reporting to Parliament in the next 18 to 24 months." The Auditor-General was responding to a May 12 written request for an independent review from the Commons justice committee. Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP MPs banded together last month in the justice committee to pass a motion over the Liberal members' objections. The motion of Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, who has been hammering away in committee at the backlog issue for months, asks Ms. Fraser to examine "the conflicting testimony and evidence presented to the committee on the effectiveness and efficiency" of the processing of DNA samples submitted for forensic analysis to the RCMP labs by police across Canada. The justice committee heard troubling testimony last May from two retired senior forensic officers, Gary Mcleod and David Hepworth, who contend the RCMP is wasting money in a backlogged and inefficient forensics system that had nearly 1,000 cases still pending as of last February. The average forensic processing time for DNA samples taken from crime scenes was 115 days, 85 days longer than the 30-day target for non-urgent cases the RCMP sets for itself. The Mounties deny public safety or criminal investigations are imperilled by the delays. It says it prioritizes the most serious cases, and all urgent cases are handled within a 15-day standard. Still at the end of 2004, 1,043 requests for DNA analysis deemed "non-urgent" at the RCMP's forensic lab services in Vancouver Regina and Ottawa had not been completed. Mr. Breitkreuz argues those cases constitute a "backlog." But senior RCMP officers who testified before the committee called them "works in process." Toronto MP Roy Cullen, parliamentary secretary for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, argued against the audit. But he said outside the House of Commons yesterday "if the Auditor-General focuses on value for money, and performance benchmarked against other jurisdictions, we are going to come out very, very well. "But if she gets hung up on language around 'backlog' versus 'work in progress' then I think we are all doomed, because it's not going to do anything for anybody."
NEWS RELEASE - May 3, 2005 |