TBI faces belt-tightening from budget grip

If the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation imposes fees for evidence analysis, the Chattanooga Police Department could face more than $17,000 a year to submit items in homicide cases.

The department could be assessed another $10,360 for drug evidence, officials said, and that doesn't include evidence from sexual assaults and nonfatal stabbings and shootings.

"That's a considerable amount of money I don't think is budgeted," said Lt. Tim Carroll, head of the department's major crimes division.

Proposed reductions to the TBI budget could trickle down to local law enforcement agencies, forcing them to pay for blood, DNA and narcotics analysis.

If the TBI is forced to trim $4.1 million, as mandated by the governor's office, free testing could be eliminated, spokeswoman Kristin Helm said. The other option would be to reduce staff by 50 to 80 employees, which is unrealistic if the TBI hopes to maintain its current level of service, she said.

"If we don't have to make cuts, we're not going to need the fees," she said. "But we want to prepare people in case this is somewhere we may go or prepare them if we cut something out."

LOOKING AT OPTIONS

The TBI proposed to the General Assembly several options to trim costs, including charging $20 for each item submitted to the TBI lab, regardless of how many tests are run on it. That would generate about $1.3 million and reduce the budget by 6 percent, Ms. Helm said.

To cut an additional 3 percent from the budget, the TBI proposed charging $100 to run DNA tests. The bureau also proposed raising the cost of blood-alcohol testing from $100 to $250, a fee that is paid by defendants, Ms. Helm said.

The TBI processes about 83,500 pieces of evidence each year, including about 7,500 DNA exhibits, she said.

Ms. Helm said the agency will have a better sense of budget constraints and whether it will have to charge fees by the end of winter. The legislature would have to approve the fees, which could be implemented by July at the earliest, she said.

For 12 homicide cases this year, Chattanooga police requested 134 DNA tests and submitted 20 items for fingerprint testing that can't be done by the department, 132 for firearms testing and 58 for gunshot residue testing, Lt. Carroll said.

For homicides alone, the department would be spending at least $17,600 for analysis at TBI labs, but that's still cheaper than private labs, he said.

"It's not going to affect the way we do it," Lt. Carroll said. "It's just going to affect our budget."

Chattanooga police also submitted 518 drug items to the TBI during the last fiscal year and 109 for the current fiscal year, spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary said.

The department already limits the amount of evidence it sends to TBI labs by meeting with the district attorney's office to determine which items are pertinent to cases, Lt. Carroll said.

IMPACT ELSEWHERE

Since Jan. 1, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office has sent 448 drug samples to be verified by the TBI and another 152 articles to be tested, including blood, DNA and fire debris, said spokeswoman Janice Atkinson. That's a potential cost of at least $12,000 if fees are added, she said.

Sheriff Jim Hammond said stimulus grants potentially could cover expenses for tests, but all local agencies will see long-term effects if forced to pay.

"We would have to look for creative ways to be able to compensate for that or do without it," he said.

Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble is urging the legislature to cut money from other programs so public safety is not affected.

Officials in Bradley County test fingerprints but outsource all other tests because of the expense, he said. Should the TBI require agencies to pay, the sheriff's office would have to cut from its budget or ask the County Commission to find other sources of funding, Sheriff Gobble said.

"It could potentially be damaging to our ability to prosecute criminals if they go through with this," he said.

Some departments already are trying to cut back on the evidence shipped to TBI labs.

Soddy-Daisy police used to send evidence to the lab before a preliminary hearing and trial. To reduce costs associated with shipping and delivery, the department now won't send evidence until it's needed for a trial, Soddy-Daisy Police Chief Phillip Hamrick said.

"We're trying to streamline and not send every small baggie of marijuana to the lab to be tested," he said.