CSI lab not a bargain for taxpayers

The Douglas County crime lab is a bargain for law enforcement agencies throughout the region.

But it's a bargain subsidized by local taxpayers.

The lab's reputation for providing quality work at a good price brought in clients from surrounding counties and as far away as Chadron, Neb., and Waterloo, Iowa.

In fact, most of its cases in the past five years were from outside Douglas County, a World-Herald review found.

Now the lab's quality is under scrutiny after the director tampered with evidence in a regional murder case.

And the outside work brings in only a fraction of what the lab costs to run. From 2005 through 2009, lab expenses averaged $840,000 a year while the lab took in an average $95,000 a year from contracts.

Now the county plans to spend $4 million in drug forfeiture funds to renovate and expand the crime lab.

Some Douglas County Board members have questioned the wisdom of expanding the lab, given concerns about its integrity, and say the county shouldn't subsidize other agencies.

“Let's just say they would never do business that way at the Nebraska Furniture Mart,” said board member Mike Boyle.

“We have morphed our crime lab into a state agency,” Boyle said. “If we are going to do that, we should charge big bucks. We need to get realistic with our costs. We're losing money and hemorraging on this.”

This year's lab expenses total about $1 million. Revenue from contracts will total about $80,000.

By contrast, a similar regional lab in San Antonio, Texas, pays for its entire $2 million operation through outside contracts.

Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning defended his lab's fee structure, saying the goal is to promote law enforcement cooperation.

“We were not out to make a profit,” Dunning said. “We were interested in providing quality services in a quicker turnaround time frame than we and our clientele were getting from the state.”

The lab has recently made changes to some fees, however.

During the past decade, Dunning has made the lab's regional expansion a top priority. He hired David Kofoed from Omaha's police crime lab to direct the operation.

Kofoed aggressively sought outside casework.

For years, the county charged a flat fee of $50 per hour to outside agencies for forensic services. No fee is charged to law enforcement agencies within the county.

“It was a very reasonable rate for the requesting agency, and it gave CSI additional major case experience,” Kofoed said in a recent e-mail interview.

Last year, 14 agencies paid Douglas County for CSI work. The most frequent users were the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office, Sarpy County Attorney's Office and Bellevue Police Department. Of the others, only the Omaha Fire Department and Papillion Police Department spent more than $1,000 for lab services.

“The bottom line is that we are all fighting the same enemy for the people of the metro area,” said Chief Deputy Sheriff Marty Bilek. “And we have to be careful about what we are charging each agency.”

Until 2005, the lab employed nine full-time staffers. As outside business expanded, Kofoed hired four more staffers and used drug-forfeiture funds to hire forensic consultant Don Veys.

Grants and drug seizure money also paid for updated lab equipment, instruments and training. The county's general fund largely pays for salaries and benefits.

Douglas County's client agencies previously relied on the Nebraska State Patrol's forensic lab. The facility is nationally accredited; the Douglas County lab is seeking such accreditation.

The State Patrol lab is also available free of charge to agencies across the state.

But it often has a backlog.

“They do a great job,” said Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner, “but they are super busy.”

The county's crime lab work comes at a price, but it's far more convenient than the state lab one hour away, said Bob Lausten, La Vista police chief. The county lab responds to a crime scene more quickly and provides faster turnaround during the early stages of an investigation, Lausten said.

Area agencies also have become familiar with the county CSI staffers, and that consistency is important, he said.

Lincoln Police Sgt. Larry Barksdale said he was surprised Douglas County was proceeding with its $4 million expansion project, given the current credibility concerns.

Kofoed's conviction was based on evidence that he planted blood in two Cass County murder cases. One of his employees testified that she suspected Kofoed of planting fingerprint evidence in at least two other crimes.

Kofoed has since been fired. He is appealing his termination.

“How do we know there aren't other cases?” asked Barksdale, who has assisted the lab on some cases that require blood-spatter analysis. “If you were an outside agency, I would think you'd want assurance of integrity of what was taking place.”

A defense attorney has asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to appoint a panel to examine whether the lab has a broader problem with handling evidence.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has said the problems were limited to Kofoed.

Barksdale said it would be best if crime labs were independent of any law enforcement agency.

A 2009 National Academy of Sciences report recommended that forensic services should be independent, which the Nebraska Innocence Project endorses. Nationwide, most are under the wing of law enforcement.

The academy said lab work should be separated from prosecution efforts. Forensic scientists who work for law enforcement can be pressured to “sacrifice appropriate methodology for the sake of expediency.”

Douglas County Board member Marc Kraft said he would prefer to separate the county crime lab from the Sheriff's Office to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

Kraft also said the county needs to generate more revenue.

“I don't feel we are very adequately or accurately recovering our costs,” he said.

For years, Douglas County charged its $50-an-hour flat fee for outside CSI work regardless of how many staff members worked on a case.

“Fifty dollars an hour sounds way too cheap to me, and we are a pretty fiscally tight organization,” said Tim Fallon, who has directed the Bexar County, Texas, crime lab in San Antonio since 1994.

The Bexar County lab charges more than twice that per hour, per person.

Douglas County Board member Clare Duda wants to maintain a regional crime lab if the county doesn't lose money.

“We did not have as good a handle in the past as I would like,” Duda said.

Lab fees are being reviewed.

“Believe me, we are looking at the numbers,” Capt. Steve Glandt said. “As far as personnel costs, yeah, we have to be able to justify our expenses.”

For future fees, Dunning plans to factor in renovation costs.

Glandt and Bilek called it a reasonable goal to recover the salaries of three staffers through forensic fees.

About 10 of the 13 staff members are needed to cover shifts, Bilek said. Outside casework keeps staffers busy during any down time, he said.

The County Board might hire an outside auditor this summer to review the fee structure.

“If we are doing 30 percent of the outside caseload, then we need to recover 30 percent of the personnel costs,” Duda said. “This is really a big question we need to be looking at. Are we breaking even?”

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov, the lab's biggest outside customer, said he would probably pay a higher fee, within limits.

“Why would we pay double if we can get the same quality and service elsewhere?” Polikov asked. “There are other options for Sarpy County, but I think Douglas County wants us as a customer, and it works better for them to have us.”

His alternatives are to use the State Patrol crime lab, pay private labs or set up a Sarpy County crime lab, Polikov said.

Not all Douglas County Board members see the crime lab revenue as a problem.

“The sheriff knows best what the fees are costing,” board member Pam Tusa said. “I don't think we as board members need to get into the fees.”

Tusa said she is confident the new crime lab will pay for itself.

It will feature new high-tech equipment that will allow staffers to begin analyzing hair samples and perform ballistics tests, among other things.

Seven outside agencies have signed agreements to use the lab: police departments in Bellevue, Fremont, La Vista and Papillion; the Sarpy County and Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Offices; and the Sarpy County attorney.

Project Harmony, an Omaha child advocacy center, also said it plans to use the lab to test hair follicles instead of using a Chicago lab, which could generate about $30,000 per year in new revenue for the lab.

“I am really looking forward to this new crime lab,” Tusa said. “I think this is totally awesome. I really feel it will work itself out.”

Boyle fears the new lab might become a white elephant.

“I understand we are not trying to make a profit with our crime lab for these outside agencies,” Boyle said, “but we can no longer be suckers, either.”

Contact the writer:

444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com

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