B.C. police investigations slowed as backlogs hit evidence processing

If you’ve ever wondered why it takes so long for some police investigations to come to a conclusion or for charges to be approved in this province, we may have an answer for you.

The RCMP has confirmed to CityNews there are major backlogs at forensic labs run by the RCMP and used by officers across B.C. The problem with the hold-up in getting evidence is it hampers the ability for police to recommend charges — meaning they can’t get approved. Meantime, victims and their loved ones are also left without closure. Overall, the wheels of justice are not turning as fast as they could be.

In the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the National Forensic Laboratory Services (NFLS) received 13,611 service requests (with roughly 41,000 exhibits) and processed 12,536 service requests.

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RCMP headquarters confirms the wait times can take months to yield results. It’s about a month and a half for anything to come back from the National Anti-Counterfeiting Bureau (NACB) — Almost three months for trace evidence; Just over three months for bodily fluids, such as spit and semen; Just over five months for firearms and six months for toxicology, like testing blood alcohol levels.

Police officers gather the evidence they need from any given crime or crime scene, where they then take the samples to the lab, and they get a date when it’ll be ready. However, that date can be pushed back, meaning the wait times above can be extended over and over again, further hampering cases from being solved swiftly.

Officers CityNews has spoken to say, in some cases, getting samples back can take up to a year, if not longer, and it can result in departments using money in their budget to pay a third-party lab to help speed up the process.

Why is this happening?

The Union of Safety and Justice Employees, which represents some unionized lab workers, says in a statement, “We are told by our members that the long delays in turnaround times is the most significant problem the lab system is facing. The main reason is the major staffing shortages.”

We asked RCMP headquarters in Ottawa if aggressive recruiting was underway to mitigate this issue, how many vacancies were currently open, and which programs specifically had vacancies that needed to be filled. For each response, we received, “Staffing processes are regularly initiated for vacancies in order to mitigate impacts on operations. These processes include assessment against required qualifications, medical assessments, and security clearances, as well as in-house mandatory training.”

It says it is slowly rebuilding staffing levels, having hired several people, but adds it’s a lengthy process.

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“In general, once an individual is hired, it can take an additional 18 months to two years before new employees are able to process forensic casework independently in many areas. In addition, as prospective new employees of the RCMP, NFLS forensic specialists are required to undergo a mandatory medical examination and thorough security clearance prior to being hired,” the RCMP said in a statement to CityNews.

“Service demand changes or new legislation can have an impact on turnaround times and the need for additional staff. For example, the Federal Drug Impaired Driving Legislation and subsequent funding has resulted in the ability to increase toxicology capacity by approximately 40 percent. The new staff and equipment are anticipated to be operational by early winter, 2022.”

The RCMP says it never stopped processing samples during the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to the implementation of virus-related protocols, it claims it did impact turnaround times for results.

The NFLS operates one laboratory system with three sites across the country. One is in Ottawa, one in Edmonton, and the other at Green Timbers in Surrey. The latter was formerly housed in Vancouver. It receives requests from across the country, with the exception of Ontario and Quebec, which manage their own public forensic labs for both municipal and provincial investigations. NFLS doesn’t handle cases that aren’t related to investigations under the Criminal Code of Canada.

This story is part of a multi-part series CityNews Vancouver is airing this week. Check back Tuesday for more and listen to the CityNews 1130 Morning Show.

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