Crime lab patiently goes about its analysis

Inside the DNA crime lab, forensic scientists work under the harsh glow of industrial lighting. They’re dressed in lab coats and wear latex gloves. The only sound is the occasional clanking of a processing machine called a Qiagen BioRobot Universal.

It is not, as Lorraine Heath explains, “a sexy place.”

“We have the standard fluorescent lighting, none of the sexy blue lights like they’ve got on ‘CSI,’ ” said Heath, a supervising forensic scientist at the Washington State Patrol lab in Cheney, referring to the TV crime series. “It always looks much more romantic on TV than what we have.”

Heath says she rarely watches TV crime shows because “They drive me nuts.” She said she is irritated at the inaccuracies, which leave the general public thinking that timelines are short and analysis of most anything will yield a suspect.

She said the shows “combine about half a dozen people’s jobs into one. We have people who go to a crime scene, but we certainly don’t carry guns and arrest anybody, and we don’t interview people. We don’t wear skin-tight leather pants, 3-inch heels and we don’t drive Hummers.”

Inside the lab

The lab is inside a 32,000-square-foot, single-story building located on about three acres of land leased from nearby Eastern Washington University. The lab is a big room, with work areas for nine forensic scientists.

Four scientists were present this day. As a photographer snapped pictures, Heath hovered nearby, making sure the photographer never got too close or interfered with evidence testing.

Heath said two other scientists were investigating a crime scene with the state patrol’s Crime Scene Response Team. Others were either off for the day or working outside the laboratory.

In the lab, two scientists were working on DNA analysis; another was identifying bodily fluids on evidence.

“There’s nothing we can accomplish in a day,” Heath said. “The shortest time we’ve ever accomplished something was in three days.”

She likened the process to baking, saying, “There’s nothing you can do to speed up the process because if you up the temperature, you will burn the cake.”

Depending on the case, DNA evidence can take weeks or months to analyze.

Each DNA sample costs $1,000 to process, and it would be much more costly if samples, which are self-contained, were not grouped with those from other cases as they make their way through the analysis process.

Money for DNA testing comes from the state’s general fund.

How evidence is prioritized

“For the most part, we try to go with first-in, first-out, just like a drive-through restaurant,” Heath said.

On any given day, the lab will have about 175 cases on backlog, which can take six months to get to.

The backup used to be years, but new technology and recent hires have reduced processing time.

Still, for reasons Heath isn’t sure of, the lab has experienced an increase of about one-third in its caseload in the past year.

The lab has about 75 cases in progress each day. Once scientists begin work on a case, the turnaround time is usually four to six weeks. Law enforcement agencies can request, and state patrol officials can grant, a rush on testing, however.

Because of budget constraints, only crimes against people are being accepted at state crime labs. Evidence from property crimes must be sent to a private lab.

Beyond DNA

The DNA lab is separate from other lab space. Scientists in other areas of the building examine firearms, bullets and shell casings, and tool marks.

They analyze evidence found at crime scenes, such as fibers, soils, paint, glass and pieces of vehicle lights. And they examine shoe prints, tire tracks, blood spatter, clothing and suspected controlled substances.

The lab also loans out its Crime Scene Response Team, which includes forensic scientists and latent fingerprint examiners. That team helps local law enforcement agencies process the scene of a crime by recognizing, handling, preserving and packaging physical evidence.

Team members help reconstruct the events that occurred at the scene. Heath estimated that the team goes out once or twice a month.

In the lab, Heath said, she finds most of the steps in DNA analysis “recipe-like” and prefers to work on the front end, where evidence comes into the lab, and on the back end, where the DNA profile is determined.

Overall, she said, she likes working in a crime lab because “I think it’s making a positive contribution to society. We give families closure; we assist in exonerating the innocent and we assist in convicting guilty people.

“I think we are making the world a safer place.”