Crime labs get squeezed

While the state is facing some tough spending decisions as a $1.6 billion deficit looms on the horizon, there may be some false economy from some of the cuts.

Like all state government agencies, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is taking some funding hits — $4.2 million in the current fiscal year and another $4.1 million in the one that starts in July 2009.

Impacted will be the GBI’s crime labs, one of the most essential tools for law enforcement. Medical examiner positions have already been eliminated in the GBI’s Moultrie and Summerville offices and, with the additional cuts coming in fiscal year 2010, the agency plans to close the Moultrie crime lab altogether next year.

While it’s disheartening that the only GBI crime lab on our end of the state will be mothballed, even more worrisome is the impact these cuts will have on Georgia’s law enforcement.

Already facing backlogs of six to eight weeks on getting the results of tests that are needed in the course of criminal investigations, making the crime labs even more lean will only add to that wait time.

“The backlog’s going to increase,” GBI Director Vernon Keenan said. “You cannot cut a budget without cutting staff.”

And that means delays in the criminal justice system that, in turn, will mean more costs.

With crime rates escalating, the last thing law enforcement officers and prosecutors need are longer delays in accessing the information and evidence they use to get criminals off the streets.

Cutting crime lab funding may well be an example of where the state is penny wise and dollar foolish.

— The Albany Herald Editorial Board

Bigfoot claim short on proof

First Hogzilla, now Bigfoot.

A couple of Georgians got at least their 15 minutes of fame late last week when they claimed they had bagged Bigfoot, the legendary Sasquatch that has existed so far only in tales and fuzzy, questionable film footage.

But Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer contend they not only found a Sasquatch corpse, they’ve preserved it in a freezer.

At a news conference Friday, the pair and another Bigfoot advocate did little to convince anyone that their finding was legitimate. Their biggest piece of “supporting” evidence was an e-mail from a Minnesota scientist who said three samples he had examined for them had proven to come from a human, an opossum and an unidentified third source — not because it was unrecognizable, but because of technical problems.

So, the claim is still just that — an unproven claim.

Still, some entrepreneur should be able to make a buck or two on the trend of mythical critters pervading Georgia all of a sudden. After all, there’s no reason why the elusive lake monster Nessie couldn’t have abandoned Loch Ness for more inviting waters like Lake Blackshear, is there?

— The Albany Herald Editorial Board