STATE LAWMAKERS, SOUTHEAST TRY TO FUND CRIME LAB

Money is tight and its building is too small, but University officials and state lawmakers have no intention of letting the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Lab close.

School officials met with state Reps. Mary Kasten, Joe Heckemeyer and Pat Naeger recently to discuss creative ways to pay for a new crime lab building.

The lab serves about 45 law enforcement agencies in Southeast Missouri, including local offices of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, from an old house on the edge of the university campus. That house is getting cramped because of the crime lab's increasing workload and its expansion into DNA analysis.

"We are going to have to be expansive and creative with our thoughts," said Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau. "It is so vital for all of us to have this facility."

Although Kasten, Heckemeyer and Naeger want some sort of state funding for the lab, their colleagues in the legislature have vowed not to allow spending for any special projects.

Joe Snowden, the dean of the college of science and technology, said everyone sees a need for the facility to stay in Cape Girardeau, but "no one quite knows how to fund a new one."

"They need a new facility, and we need to find a way to fund it," said Naeger, R-Perryville. "If you get creative with the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Corrections -- maybe the Department of Transportation -- we might find ways to siphon a little off with all of these budgets."

In addition to drawing money from other state department budgets, Snowden said university officials are considering using the lab in more academic areas, which would open the door for more direct university funding.

Some students work at the lab as part of a single class, usually an internship.

But the university doesn't offer majors in which students have more intensive training in the crime lab. Snowden would like to see at least a forensic science major in the future.

Naeger agreed: "We're missing out on some incredible opportunities for students. Chemistry, biology, criminology or whatever should be learning there. It's state of the art."

Naeger said in addition to the state funding, requests for federal funding might be made because local federal agencies use the facility.

Snowden said that although the crime lab has only about two years to find another site, university officials are confident the lab will survive.

"Crime is a growth industry, and it isn't going away," he said.

The lab expects to handle 3,000 cases this year from law enforcement agencies in 20 counties and the federal government. A lab official said the caseload has grown every year, and with the expansion of DNA services, the lab is becoming cramped.

Most of the lab's funding comes from service fees charged to the law enforcement agencies. About 25 percent of funding comes from the state.

Naeger, a the former Perry County coroner, realizes the valuable service the lab provides. It's also convenient. Without it, the highway patrol's lab in Jefferson City would be used.

"A lot of evidence has to be carried by hand," he said. "That's a lot of cost savings for the small departments to have that lab in Cape Girardeau. It cuts out a three-and-a-half-hour drive."