PUBLICATION:  The Leader-Post (Regina)
DATE:  2003.10.07
EDITION:  Final
SECTION:  News
PAGE:  A1 / Front
BYLINE:  Andrew Ehrkamp
SOURCE:  Leader-Post
ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: Don Healy, Leader-Post / Dave Hepworth,
aformer RCMP staff-sergeant, is shown in front of the RCMP's Forensic
Lab, located on Dewdney Avenue in west Regina. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crime lab's sad state a crime: former manager

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cutbacks, poor working conditions and a lack of staff have combined to
create a critical situation at the RCMP's forensic services, including
the lab in Regina, warns a former senior lab manager.

"We're grossly under-resourced," said Dave Hepworth, a former RCMP
staff-sergeant who, until last month, worked as a search co-ordinator in
the force's evidence recovery unit based in Regina.

Hepworth said steady cutbacks have occurred since 2001, to the point
where one-third of the RCMP's $12-million, state-of-the art lab in
Regina, which opened in 1995, has been converted to office space.

He also describes the RCMP's forensic lab system as a workplace that's
so understaffed only 12 per cent of DNA cases meet the RCMP's 30-day
deadline. Instead, routine cases, such as bank robberies, take several
months to complete -- a situation he calls "deplorable".

Hepworth said many staff are working a lot of overtime and are shuttled
back and forth from various units to deal with backlogs in other areas.

He also said staff are being pressured to produce results, that the
training of new staff is being done too quickly and many senior staffers
-- including Hepworth himself -- are leaving due to poor working
conditions.

"Somebody should do something about this, so I decided that (somebody)
was going to be me," Hepworth said. "I didn't want to be that person who
makes an error, but we're setting ourselves up for a serious error."

This year, the Regina lab's DNA analysis section was moved to Vancouver
and Ottawa. As of next year, the Regina lab's evidence recovery unit --
used by many police forces including Regina Police Service -- as well as
the unit in Edmonton will follow, Hepworth said.

The Halifax evidence recovery unit -- which is used to search for
forensic evidence such as hair, blood or semen stains -- will also be
closed.

"This is the unit of the biology section that either makes or breaks the
case," Hepworth said of the evidence recovery unit.

"You either find the evidence there or you miss it there ... the whole
case hinges on that unit."

Hepworth said the move will be a logistical "nightmare" because some
exhibits are quite large, such as car seats, and must be sent out of
town.

"The (Regina) police in particular are going to suffer from this," he
said.

Hepworth said the RCMP's forensic services don't have the impact on an
investigation that they could have because the RCMP can't provide
forensic results fast enough.

Regina Police Service Chief Cal Johnston said the evidence recovery unit
provides valuable advice to police officers, and the provincial chiefs
of police association will discuss the loss of the unit at their meeting
this week.

An RCMP spokesman said the police force is consolidating forensic lab
services in six cities, including Regina, each with its own specialty
rather than having a full lab at each site. The restructuring period
will be completed by 2004.

"Naturally there's going to be some discomfort as you roll out any
re-organization," said RCMP spokesman Staff-Sgt. Paul Marsh, noting the
changes won't include cuts to staff or services.

"The work is being done, just at different locations," Marsh said,
adding the re-organization will primarily improve efficiency, as well as
save money.

When Hepworth left the RCMP on Sept. 28, he said there was a backlog of
700 cases -- with roughly 2,300 DNA samples waiting for analysis -- in
the forensic labs across Canada.

Marsh acknowledged that the turn-around time for routine DNA cases is 93
days, which is better than it has been in the past. "Is that where we
want to be? No. Have we made big improvements from a year ago? Yes."

Marsh said the RCMP employs 370 forensic scientists, and three new
staffers are currently in training.

Hepworth noted that his backlog estimate doesn't include high-profile
cases like the Robert Pickton murder investigation in B.C. because they
are treated separately by a special team of investigators.