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GBI outlines crime‑lab hiring and backlog relief plans amid toxicology delays
Summary
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation told lawmakers it is expanding forensic positions and contracts to reduce backlogs, boost autopsy capacity and add digital‑forensics and threat‑analysis staff; toxicology turnaround and sexual‑assault kit processing remain areas of concern.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) urged the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee to fund lab equipment contracts, digital‑forensics investigators and additional specialists to help reduce longstanding backlogs in drug chemistry, toxicology and other forensic work.
GBI Director Chris Hosey told the committee that service contracts for laboratory instrumentation have risen roughly 18% since FY2022 and that maintaining those service agreements reduces downtime and helps with backlog management. GBI proposed funding for contract increases, added technical leaders for crime‑scene teams, more digital forensic investigators and a 1‑time startup for a Strategic Threat Assessment Group to track threats to public officials and major events.
Hosey said the chemistry section represented the largest portion of the lab backlog and that equipment service contracts typically include parts and rapid servicing, which shortens instrument downtime. He also noted the agency is expanding a strategy of embedding analysts and digital forensic staff into field units to improve case turnaround. The GBI said it has added medical examiner physicians but still has vacancies and faces higher national demand for forensic scientists.
Several committee members asked about sexual‑assault (SANE/kit) backlog, autopsy turnaround and regional coverage. Hosey said the agency conducts autopsies at headquarters, Pooler and Macon, and that toxicology—not autopsy capacity—is often the rate‑limiting step, with normal toxicology turnaround cited at approximately four to six weeks; the GBI said it will expedite cases where prosecution needs demand it.
The director also asked for funds to support the State Threat Assessment Group (STAG), an expansion of the agency’s GSAC intelligence unit, to add sworn positions focused on domestic threats, school threats and threats to elected officials. He said that grants which had funded similar work recently expired and that the requested funds would cover start‑up and 10 months of personnel costs while the agency seeks longer term funding.
Ending: The committee heard the requests and asked follow‑up questions about regional autopsy coverage, sexual‑assault kit counts and turnaround time. No vote was taken during the hearing.
