Tallahassee — Deputy Commissioner Vaden Pollard of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal Justice that state and federal privacy laws and current laboratory capacity often slow investigators’ access to hospital toxicology and DNA results, and that the average turnaround time for DNA analysis last quarter was about 208 days.

Pollard, who oversees investigations and forensic services at FDLE, said medical examiner autopsies and their toxicology are routinely available to investigators but that hospital‑drawn labs are treated as medical records and generally require a subpoena or court order. “HIPAA sets the floor,” Pollard said, noting state statutes also require notice to patients and that subpoenas are the exclusive procedure for many records under Florida law.

The difference matters, he told senators: when a suspect is deceased the medical examiner can collect and provide autopsy toxicology without court process, but for living suspects investigators typically need probable cause and judicial authorization to obtain blood or medical records. Pollard cited U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Missouri v. McNeely on warrant requirements for non‑exigent blood draws and identified federal 42 CFR part 2 as a separate, stricter confidentiality regime for substance‑use treatment records.

Why it matters: those legal protections can slow homicide and violent‑crime inquiries and complicate efforts to determine whether medications, illicit drugs or other substances affected a suspect’s behavior. Pollard said such records can be “indispensable” for corroborating or refuting statements about an incident, but that access “can delay urgent investigations.”

Committee members pressed FDLE about lab capacity and prioritized testing. Senator Bradley asked whether the immediate public‑safety need is quicker DNA results or broader access to medical or medication histories. “Is that more the public safety need or is there a need for other elements of the toxicology report that present an urgent public safety need right now?” Bradley asked. Pollard responded that it “depends on the circumstance,” offering that rapid DNA identification in sexual‑assault and violent‑crime cases is often essential to identify suspects and reduce future risk, while timely access to medical or mental‑health records can support prevention in cases that show behavioral warning signs.

On laboratory timing, Pollard said FDLE’s average DNA turnaround time last quarter was about 208 days and that the agency treats any case over 30 days as backlog. He said FDLE can designate “rush” cases and process some analyses within 24 hours, and that turnaround for sexual‑assault evidence is governed by a 120‑day standard; FDLE’s average for assault kits, he said, remains under 90 days.

Senators asked what would shorten turnaround. Pollard said the primary constraint is qualified personnel in the state crime laboratory: “We need analysts in our crime laboratory to perform those results, and we also need to be able to hire them and retain them.” He also said FDLE relies on other labs in regions — for example, Miami‑Dade provides laboratory services for that area — and that interagency arrangements affect capacity.

Pollard described procedural workarounds investigators use when records would otherwise tip off potential subjects, emphasizing coordinated timing with prosecutors and careful use of subpoenas so investigations are not compromised. He also reviewed recent federal changes to 42 CFR part 2 that allow a single written consent to authorize future disclosures for treatment, payment and health‑care operations (TPO) in certain circumstances; he said the 2024 updates are intended to align part 2 and HIPAA where possible.

Committee members also asked about risk protection orders created after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act reforms. Pollard said law enforcement has used risk protection orders “many times” and that, when investigations are thorough and courts impose appropriate evaluations, the process can both remove firearms and create pathways to services for people judged a risk to themselves or others.

No committee action followed the presentation; members thanked FDLE for the briefing and closed the meeting.