REPORT: Is the Crime Lab Proposal Fiscally Responsible?

The Alaska Policy Forum has released a study of the State Crime Lab replacement project proposed by the Department of Public Safety.

• The study concluded that the needs assessment used to determine the size of the facility was based on outdated documents.

• The proposed lab would include services already offered by the State Public Health Laboratory across the street.

• While staffing has increased, the actual number of cases submitted to the current crime lab is about the same as it was 15 years ago; the proposal is to make the new lab four times larger.

• The site chosen for the new lab required wetland mitigation. The site is still valuable, and could be returned to the Municipality of Anchorage.

• The new lab was designed to include capabilities to respond to cases rarely encountered in Alaska, despite it being more cost effective to send those rare cases to FBI-approved labs who routinely handle them.

• The future costs of the project have the potential to pull funding away from other important responsibilities.

Download the complete report here.

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