HFSC says firearms backlog will take years to clear as staffing, training lag behind demand

Houston Forensic Science Center President and CEO Peter Stout told the HFSC board that the center’s longest-running operational problem is its firearms backlog and that clearing it will take years even with recent budget increases.

Stout told the board that construction work at the center is progressing and that many basement permits are complete, but the urgent operational pressures are forensic backlogs — particularly firearms. “Firearms is the single biggest pain point,” he said, noting a national shortage of examiners and slow, multiyear training requirements.

The issue matters because firearms evidence is commonly central to violent-crime prosecutions and because court slowdowns during and after the COVID-19 pandemic amplified demand. Stout said courts’ heavier caseloads in 2022 and 2023 contributed to a spike in subpoenas and that the court backlog preceded and then exacerbated HFSC’s own backlog.

Stout described multiple contributing factors. He cited a reagent manufacturing problem from QIAGEN that temporarily delayed forensic-biology…