Many things private businesses do faster, better and cheaper than government.
That is not the case with testing blood samples for criminal drug cases. A contract dropped three weeks ago means justice delayed for victims and the accused.
Quest Diagnostics, in Chantilly, Va., would not say why it dropped the contract.
However, it is safe to assume that the requirements for testing evidence, as opposed to testing for medical purposes, made the process incompatible with standard commercial lab operations.
Testing evidence requires strict documentation of custody, sworn trial testimony by technicians and sometimes long delays in responding to subpoenas.
Harford County State?s Attorney Joseph Cassilly said private labs? “assembly line approach … works great for hospitals, but for a crime lab you?re making all those different people into witnesses.”
Cassilly said prosecutors will meet with a Philadelphia lab, but any facility must be approved by State Toxicologist Dr. Barry Levine.
Meanwhile, samples from criminal investigations are going on ice until tests resume. Casilly said he has three cases of driving under the influence on hold. One case involves two deaths. Maryland state police have a case waiting.
Maryland does not allow urine-based drug test results as evidence. That means the state must either change the law or come up with a fast, cost-effective and legally sound way to do it.
Levine says he cannot comment on the options ? other than to report no progress ? because he is looking into potential contractors.
He said state medical examiners have the equipment to test blood samples for drugs, but only do so for death cases. He said adding criminal cases would require more personnel not only to do the tests, but to testify.
State Police have a lab to test blood for alcohol, but not drugs.
This all leaves the people of Maryland with three choices: 1. Find a private lab to do tests admissible in court quickly at low cost; 2. Get state police the equipment to do the tests, or 3. Ask the Medical Examiners to do the tests.
No. 3 is the best option. If MEs say they cannot, let us ask why not? How many tests a year do they do now? How many more would be added? How much time would that take?
If they can prove the additional tests would lead to increased costs, then the state should consider purchasing necessary equipment for the state police lab.
Then both options should be accounted against the cost of contracting the tests to private labs. How much did those cost? What is budgeted?
It?s not that complicated. Get the best results at the lowest cost for the people of Maryland.
Unless there are private labs set up to routinely meet standards for evidence in criminal trials and provide timely expert testimony at rates less than state employees, the answer is clear: Maryland should do its own testing.
