By SCOTT INGLIS
The number of crime investigations in which evidence was sent for DNA testing trebled last month as police piled more work than ever on forensic scientists.
Police normally have samples from up to 350 crime scenes DNA-tested each month, but in June this jumped to 1089.
The overall number of cases referred to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) for testing is at a record and likely to rise again once police are allowed to seek compulsory DNA samples from burglary suspects.
The reasons for the surge are that DNA testing is helping to solve so many crimes that it has become popular with police, and detectives have investigated up to 10 times as many complicated murders as normal.
As a result, police are having to wait up to three months for routine DNA test results - twice as long as normal - and ESR scientists, who also perform blood, drug and toxicology tests, are under huge pressure.
Police and the ESR enter into a forensic-test contract each financial year. In the year to June 30, police overspent on their $7.8 million ESR budget by $500,000, largely because of the surge in DNA work in May (515 cases) and June.
The money was made up from areas where police underspent.
Police refuse to reveal the total number of cases referred to the ESR, saying the information is commercially sensitive.
Police managers are now finalising a new contract, worth just over $9 million. Of that, about $1.5 million is expected to be spent on DNA tests, $300,000 more than last year.
National crimes manager Detective Superintendent Bill Bishop said that of all crime scenes examined, police had been able to link a third to people whose DNA profiles were already stored on the national database.
For every three burglary scenes DNA-tested, two could be linked to someone on the database.
"What that has meant is police have become very enthusiastic ... Success is breeding demand. "It has been building, but the last couple of months have been phenomenal."
More complicated homicides have also added to the overall ESR workload.
Of the 60 or so investigated by police each year, one or two are usually complex, involving a huge number of forensic tests. Last year, the number skyrocketed to 20.
Inquiries have included the deaths of Kirsty Bentley, Lisa Blakie, Gavin Dash and Kylie Jones, and the Waitara police shooting of Steve Wallace.
The uncovering of illegal hard-drug laboratories also involves huge amounts of ESR expertise. Police commonly bust one or two a year, relying on the ESR to examine them. In the past year, they raided 12.
Mr Bishop admitted police were putting tremendous pressure on the ESR, but said the extra workload had been agreed to by the agency within the terms of their contract.
ESR management referred all inquiries for comment to police.
Mr Bishop believed the pressure would increase once police were allowed to DNA-test burglary suspects under legislation that should be introduced by the year's end.
District CIB commanders would have to arrange cases priorities carefully. "Police have to work smarter - but not at the expense of cases."
Police Minister George Hawkins said he expected DNA testing to grow quickly, as fingerprinting had in its early days, but it was up to the ESR, a crown institute, to manage its increased workload.
Auckland defence lawyer Shane Cassidy said he was concerned at the delays in test results.
In a rape case last week, the forensic results were not available at a depositions hearing, making his job harder, he said.
It was the second such delay Mr Cassidy had encountered in court over the past few months. Test result delays can sometimes result in cases being dismissed by a court.
DNA testing has not been without controversy. In March, it was revealed a string of criminal cases were likely to be appealed against after DNA errors in two high-profile investigations.
Police lean on scientists for DNA tests
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