Virginia Forensic Science director says new central lab on schedule; move delayed by furniture backlog
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Summary
Director Linda Jackson told the Forensic Science Board the new central laboratory has temporary occupancy and is on budget; the move was pushed from mid-January to late February/early March due to delayed furniture deliveries. DFS also reported staffing levels, equipment purchases, outsourcing volumes and plans for operator retraining.
Linda Jackson, director of the Department of Forensic Science, said the agency has received a temporary certificate of occupancy for its new central laboratory and that the capital project is "on schedule and it is within budget." She told the Forensic Science Board at its telemeeting that staff can now enter the building and that teams are planning a five-week, phased move to avoid disrupting instrument operation.
Jackson said the move has been delayed from a mid-January start to late February or early March because Virginia Correctional Enterprises, which is supplying system furniture, has been unable to deliver on the original timeline. "We are now receiving things that we thought that we were going to be receiving in November," she said, and DFS is procuring moving services to execute a phased transfer of functions and instruments.
The department plans to route urgent cases to other laboratories while the move is underway. Jackson said DFS will not have all analytical capabilities available at every moment during the move but has set up processes to handle rush cases and maintain casework continuity.
Jackson reported staffing and budget details: DFS has 329 general-funded classified positions and 19 non-general-funded positions paid through federal grants. She said the agency was approved to carry forward $5,400,000 to cover the purchase of breath-alcohol instruments and $2,100,000 to cover transition and facility maintenance costs related to the larger central laboratory. The Governor's introduced budget included two additional forensic scientist positions for DNA analysis at the new lab.
On instrumentation, Jackson said DFS has contracted with Dräger for a new breath-alcohol instrument (ALCO 9510) and expects the first shipment in February. She said preparation for operator retraining is underway and that most retraining will include online components with shorter hands-on sessions at regional sites so operators need not travel to Richmond.
Jackson outlined operational changes and outsourcing: DFS has sent roughly 600 cases to Bode Technology in Lorton and reported two-thirds of those have returned results. The agency is also outsourcing limited THC quantitation on edibles to NMS Laboratories in Pennsylvania and continues to transfer some firearms and latent-print cases across its statewide laboratories as it recruits staff.
On quality issues, Jackson updated the board on the western firearms section, which had its firearms-comparison scope removed after a proficiency test raised concerns. An external examiner recently re-reviewed a small set of six cases previously handled by the original examiner and agreed with five of the six conclusions; the department plans to expand the sample size and implement a new verification step requiring another examiner to concur before classifying evidence as unsuitable for examination.
Jackson closed by noting recruitment and compensation challenges in the northern laboratory, where local market salaries lag current pay. She said those compensation changes would need to go through the budgeting process and that staffing remains a priority.