Area crime lab now run by state police

The SEMO Regional Crime Lab in Cape Girardeau has been folded into the Missouri State Highway Patrol, eventually eliminating fees for local law enforcement agencies, officials announced Friday.

For the past several years, law agencies needing DNA or ballistics testing had the option of paying for tests at the area lab or running over to Jefferson City, Mo., for the nearest, and free, patrol lab.

"It's not that one was ever better; it's just some of the agencies didn't have the funding" to pay for lab work, SEMO Regional Crime Lab director Pam Johnson said.

But on July 1, the lab, which ran in conjunction with Southeast Missouri State University, was folded into the patrol and became its seventh crime lab.

State Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said the state secured nearly $625,000 in annual appropriations for the highway patrol to operate the lab, which will help "put bad people away and give students cutting-edge learning."

The lab's costs used to rely on fees from local law enforcement agencies. With the patrol's budget, the Cape Girardeau lab would no longer have to rely on those fees, which would have increased, patrol Maj. Jim Keathley said.

"The funding will be more stable and solid," said state Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter.

The fees will no longer be assessed after debt the lab owes is paid off, Keathley said. The debt comes from infrastructure improvement, half of which was covered by a federal grant and the remaining was to come from local sources, such as law enforcement fees for the lab, Crowell said.

The debt was expected to be paid by the end of the year.

For the most part, operations will continue to run as normal, Johnson said.

Students at Southeast Missouri State University will continue to have opportunities for internships at the lab and its employees will continue teaching classes at the university, she said.

In the event of backlog at the local crime lab, the patrol will be able to send tests to another lab for completion, something the SEMO Regional Crime Lab could not do.

The lab will also undergo a process to become an accredited lab, said Bill Marbaker, assistant director for the patrol's crime laboratory division. It is not currently accredited.

"It's a way of determining that you are performing at a level that's expected of you," Marbaker said. The Missouri Society of Crime Laboratory Directors will inspect the lab every five years, and the lab will be required to submit a yearly self-audit.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127