The Douglas County Board remains committed to a multimillion-dollar renovation and relocation project for the county's crime lab, despite continuing challenges to the lab's reputation.
Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning recently received the board's approval to use up to $2.5 million of forfeited drug funds to relocate the lab and the county's K-9 units. Both units will be moved from the Sheriff's Office at 156th Street and West Maple Road to the former Thomas Fitzgerald Veterans Home, a few blocks to the east.
The county is reviewing about a dozen contractor bids this month for the project. Work is scheduled to begin this summer.
Five of the seven board members expressed continued support for the project.
Board member Mike Boyle, however, wants to delay the project, saying there are too many unanswered questions about the crime lab, after Douglas County CSI director David Kofoed's felony conviction last month on a charge of evidence tampering in a 2006 murder case.
Kofoed is appealing the conviction.
As part of the judge's verdict, he noted that he saw significant similarities between the 2006 case and an unrelated murder case from 2003.
An attorney filed an appeal this week in the 2003 case and also asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to appoint an independent panel to determine the extent of evidence tampering at the lab during Kofoed's tenure.
“The credibility of the department is on the line,” Boyle said. “If that's the case, why are we building a new crime lab facility? At the very least, it's way premature.”
Board member Marc Kraft said he hasn't made up his mind whether to continue to back the renovations. The other five board members said they remain supportive of Dunning and his efforts to expedite the project. Kraft voted for the $2.5 million project, but the vote came before Kofoed's conviction.
Boyle said he would like to see the Sheriff's Office and Omaha Police Department merge their crime labs before a renovation is done.
The two agencies have had on-again, off-again talks over the years about a merger. Kofoed's conviction prompted a renewal of the talk, but no formal discussions have been held.
The County Board has little authority over the project now that it has approved the expenditure.
The project would go back before the board, however, if costs were to exceed the $2.5 million price tag. The board also has the final say on hiring a contractor.
“This is the sheriff's money, drug-forfeiture funds, and I intend to support him,” said board member Clare Duda. “Its possible uses are very limited, and Sheriff Dunning has got control over it.”
Board member Chris Rodgers said he's fine with moving ahead with the renovation rather than working toward a merger.
“I don't see any reason to wait,” Rodgers said. “The Kofoed thing is a separate issue from building, too. He's terminated. The facility is much bigger than one man.”
The majority of work handled by the lab comes from contracts for forensic services with other agencies in Iowa and Nebraska.
Boyle said he fears that Douglas County taxpayers might wind up with a state-of-the-art facility that goes largely unused if it loses contracts as a consequence of Kofoed's criminal conviction.
The county has been named in two separate federal civil lawsuits, brought by two men wrongly jailed on murder charges in the 2006 slayings of a Cass County farm couple, based on Kofoed's actions.
“If we don't get that merger done, I think we've got some problems,” Boyle said. “I would be very uneasy if we are out there by ourselves. The CSI department is damaged, and any criminal defense attorney will drag us down. The merger has to be successful to cleanse ourselves.”
Board member Pam Tusa disagreed.
She said the Sheriff's Office has written agreements from several surrounding police agencies, who have committed to using the new lab and defray costs for funding its operation.
“You should not hold one CSI department responsible for one mistake that Kofoed had made,” Tusa said. “There won't be any taxpayers' funds involved.”
Tusa contends the Douglas County CSI lab will emerge a better division as a result of the turmoil caused by Kofoed's case.
“They will work through it, and I don't think this will affect them overall,” she said. “I think they come out stronger.”
Contact the writer:
444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
