REGIONAL CRIME LAB HAS FUNDING HURDLE

The Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory says it needs a larger place in which to operate. A movement is afoot to relocate the lab from the Southeast Missouri State University campus to a building the university owns at Ellis and Merriwether streets.

The move off campus to what is known as the Tlapek building would be a costly one. Crime lab director Dr. Robert Briner estimates it would cost $700,000 for relocation and extensive renovations to the structure, which is used by the university's physical plant.

The cost, however, wouldn't all be related to crime-lab expenses. Some would be for other improvements to the building so it could be used by the university's Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Academy, a teaching for a proposed master's program in forensic science and a regional morgue.

About half of the 14,000-square-foot Tlapek building would be used by the lab, which has occupied a 2,000-square-foot structure since it began operations on campus in 1969. With more equipment having been acquired through the years, the crime lab is operating in cramped quarters.

The move hinges upon the lab's ability to raise the needed money. The Missouri Legislature last session appropriated $100,000 for the move, and that measure awaits the governor's signature. It is contingent upon the crime lab being able to match the $100,000, which has been done through the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation. That leaves the project about $500,000 short.

One possibility for additional money comes from the federal government. That may be plausible because Missouri has such a bad methamphetamine problem. U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond has had favorable response from members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, when discussing the need for funds, his office reported.

Much of the lab's operational funding comes from law enforcement agencies in the 21-county Southeast Missouri region. Those agencies benefit by having the lab at their disposal because it is nearby and can process evidence quickly. That would not be the case if they had to call upon Missouri Highway Patrol or FBI crime labs. The lab operates to serve law enforcement, and the agencies that use it could be called upon to help fund the move.

Still another possibility for additional funding lies with the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and Mineral Area Drug Task Force. They recently received checks totaling almost $750,000, which represented money confiscated in one of Missouri's largest drug-money seizures. That money could appropriately be spent to carry out the move.

Regardless of where the additional money might come, the crime lab must show that the more is necessary, and the improvements will best serve law enforcement. It it can do that, the money will come from somewhere.