Oakwood is ending its relationship with the lab next year, and others are considering making a change.
But the regional crime lab could avoid losing some business if it starts offering a fee-for-service alternative to its flat-rate membership fees, some local city officials said.
“I would say almost all of our members are looking” at the issue, said Brian Humphress, the executive director of the Dayton Area Mayors and Managers Association, which has about 25 member cities. “It’s comparing cost to no-cost: You would be neglecting your duty to not look at it.”
However, it is not clear how a fee-for-services model would work with forensic testing, and it could create financial uncertainty for a facility that requires a baseline budget, said Ken Betz, the director of the regional crime lab.
“It takes time, money, people and supplies to keep the doors open,” Betz said.
Some local and state officials said the regional lab hopefully can remain financially solvent because its caseload could burden the state.
“Hopefully we can come to some agreement about how the work can be divided up so the local lab can stay in existence,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
More cities turn to free state lab
The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab has more than 70 membership agencies that pay annual fees for evidence-analysis services.
The regional lab, which opened more than 40 years ago, handles between 12,000 to 14,000 criminal cases each year, including about 8,000 drug cases for local courts. The lab has about 26 employees and a $3.6 million budget.
The membership fees are based on a formula that includes population, crime rates and other factors.
The fees cities pay continue to rise, typically on par with inflation. Dayton paid 2.5 percent more this year.
The regional crime lab’s membership has decreased in recent years as cities decamped in favor of using the free services of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification lab in London, Ohio.
Oakwood has decided to end its membership with the regional lab starting Jan. 1. The city in 2014 paid $17,640 in membership fees.
Huber Heights declined to renew its contract in 2013. Miami Twp., Moraine, Englewood and West Carrollton all declined to renew their memberships this year.
Budget constraints, partly tied to state funding cuts, have prompted local cities to re-evaluate their membership with the regional crime lab and weigh the benefits of BCI, said Humphress.
Mike DeWine beefed up the BCI labs after he became attorney general in 2011. BCI’s budget for 2015 was $68.9 million, up 33 percent from July 2010. Nineteen agencies from southwest Ohio have started using BCI’s lab services since 2012.
The state labs no longer have a reputation for being slow, officials said.
“Under the current leadership at BCI, they have more funding, they have more people and their services have become more timely,” Humphress said.
Humphress said local cities are content with the quality of services provided by the regional lab. But he said the cost of membership is a concern when the competition is free.
Some cities in the association are interested in using BCI for certain services and the regional lab for evidence tests that are timely or that the state lab does not provide, Humphress said.
The regional lab offers toxicology and DNA-touch sample tests for nonviolent crimes, which BCI does not. BCI also limits the amount of DNA evidence agencies can submit for a case. Most touch-DNA cases at the regional lab are for non-violent crimes.
Some cities consider using both labs
Kettering, which paid the regional lab $92,000 this year, is exploring whether it could use BCI for some evidence tests and the local facility for more urgent needs, said Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman.
“We wanted to find out if there is a way to work with both,” Schwieterman said. “That option would be a partial participation contract with the crime lab, where a la carte services could be rendered by the crime lab to us.”
He said Kettering City Council will decide by the end of the year whether to make a change.
Centerville, which paid about $60,000 for testing services in 2015, is evaluating whether to stay with the local lab or take advantage of the free services provided by the state, said City Manager Greg Horn.
He said large budget cuts from the state — which include deep cuts to the local government fund — explain why cities are very tempted by the free services.
He said Centerville has heard from agencies that switched to BCI that its services have been satisfactory.
“Whether an annual fee is charged or services are offered a la carte (by the local lab) … free is hard to beat in these challenging times for our Ohio cities,” Horn said.
This year, the city of Dayton agreed to a $435,095 contract for technical and analytic services. The Dayton Police Department also has a $82,595 contract with the lab for automated fingerprint information services.
The police department submitted 8,871 items of evidence to the lab in 2014.
Dayton is looking at a menu of services and evaluating the cost and quality of service of BCI and the local lab, said Stanley Earley, Dayton’s deputy city manager.
“Dayton is interested in talking with both which could lead to using both,” Earley said.
County examines fee system
This is the first time regional crime lab members have requested a broad fee-for-service payment model, said Betz, the lab’s director.
He said there is no simple, straightforward way to create an a la carte system for lab services.
“We are working on that concept and that’s what they have asked us to do,” he said. “But it’s a difficult thing to do, because you don’t know what a case entails.”
One case could require many types of forensic tests for items collected from a crime scene, including fingerprints, firearms, DNA and chemicals, he said.
He said law enforcement cannot be expected to try to solve crimes on the cheap.
“In investigations of criminal cases, we don’t selectively analyze evidence or do not analyze evidence because it will cost a given dollar amount,” he said. “Our concept is like buying an insurance policy: There are some cases that are complex and some that are easy.”
The regional crime lab has mailed out the membership fees for 2016 to participating agencies.
Betz said he is surveying member agencies to find out how many are looking at a fee-for-service option.
Best said the regional lab cannot compete with free.
However, he said the state lab does not have the resources to perform evidence testing for all jurisdictions.
“Can BCI absorb our caseload? Absolutely not,” he said.
Level of state, county services differ
Some of the biggest benefits of having a regional lab are convenience and services after analysis, Denise Rankin, the regional lab’s assistant director.
Lab experts testify at criminal trials and can get to the court house on short notice, she said. Experts also discuss the significance of evidence with prosecutors and investigators.
Cities that switch to the BCI lab have to travel to London to deliver evidence, and state forensic experts will have to come from there to testify, she said.
Attorney General DeWine said additional lab work takes additional time, and how long it takes for the BCI lab to process evidence could be negatively impacted if it receives more cases.
But he said BCI will not turn down cases, and 90 percent of police agencies in the state use the state labs, even though the state’s biggest cities have their own facilities.
DeWine said his office wants to work with the regional lab to possibly find a way to split up the work, such as having the state handle all DNA evidence.
“The current business model at Miami Valley is going to be difficult for them to sustain,” he said.
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