Idaho counties pay for out-of-state forensics tests. New state lab aims to change that
Idaho State Police hope a new forensics lab will provide “equal access to justice” across the state by doing expanding in-state testing services.
The agency is looking for design bids for a 79,000-square-foot forensic science laboratory to go on police-owned land at its Meridian campus.
The police department has an existing lab at the Meridian site, but as Idaho’s population is increasing, so is department staff.
“We’ve been expanding internally in the building to take over spaces that have been vacated by other units,” said Matthew Gamette, laboratory system director for ISP. “But there’s no more room to expand in the building.”
Currently if the state police need any toxicology testing, they have to use the ISP labs in Coeur d’Alene or Pocatello. If police need to do trace evidence analysis, which deals with the transfer of tiny materials that cannot be seen with the naked eye, it must be outsourced to a private company or out of state.
Gamette said the new lab would also add a firearms analysis wing with an indoor, one-lane firing range to test-fire weapons and ammunition.
Why does having a local lab matter?
Having forensic services in the Treasure Valley is important because local scientists can travel to court appearances faster and evidence doesn’t have to be shipped across or out of state, which raises concerns of potentially losing evidence, said Gamette. The agency takes precautions when shipping evidence, but that can get expensive, Gamette said.
It would also make services accessible to rural counties that may otherwise be unable to pay for outsourced forensic studies.
“When we become aware that there’s a service that isn’t being offered in our state that would be beneficial to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute cases, those are things that we need to be adding so that law enforcement isn’t having to spend exorbitant amounts of money to either find a private individual who can do that or a private laboratory or asking favors from other states,” Gamette said.
Some Idaho counties may be able to afford to outsource lab tests in certain cases to other states or private labs, but Gammette said many can’t.
”We want to make sure that those services are offered here,” Gammette said. “And (ensure) that there isn’t some kind of unequal distribution of justice based on whether or not the officers can’t get the services that they need to be able to investigate or prosecute those cases.”
The state police are launching a pilot project to analyze any suspected overdose deaths to determine how many people are dying of drug overdoses in Idaho, said Gammette.
The program is beginning in Ada County and then expanding into coroner’s offices statewide. To determine if a death is from an overdose, the forensic lab must run blood toxicology tests. But many counties are not running those tests because it is expensive, Gammette said.
“It shouldn’t be a case where in one county, you don’t get a toxicology test because the county can’t afford it or the coroner’s office can’t afford it,” Gammette said. “We need to be offering those services for them so that we as a state are seeing a true picture of what’s going on with overdose deaths in our state.”
Gammette estimates that ISP will select a design team for the new lab by mid-summer and construction will start six months to a year after that.
This story was originally published April 7, 2023 at 10:51 AM.
