Criminal justice contends with CSI syndrome

By Gary Raham
Wellington Correspondent

Wellington residents learned in October that using DNA testing to solve crimes is more than television drama.

At an Oct. 13 press conference at Wellington Town Hall, Larimer County investigator John Feyen mentioned that a "rush" had been placed on analyzing DNA samples during the investigation of a sexual assault and burglary in town. When asked what was the most difficult aspect of the case, he laughed and said, "Waiting for the phone to ring with the lab results."

It seems that lots of people have "CSI expectations" when it comes to getting rapid answers to evidence requiring modern laboratory tests. Although Feyen enjoys watching the popular TV crime show, too, its one-hour crime wrap-ups featuring all the latest in crime-solving technology can skew people's expectations.

As fans of the show know, crime lab analysts arrive quickly on the scene. In Wellington, Feyen said, a member of Larimer County's three-person team handled the collection of evidence. He added that patrol officers are trained to perform basic evidence processing such as taking photos, dusting for fingerprints and recording shoe prints and tire impressions, when necessary.

Samples collected from the Sept. 18 assault were sent for DNA testing to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation on Sept. 23. Early on, investigators also collected DNA samples from three possible suspects, Feyen said, but the lab results pointed to one suspect and led to the arrest of Benjamin William Vivian, 24.

Feyen's phone rang with the results on Oct. 12. "Sometimes," he said, "lab results can take as long as six to seven months."

Ron Arndt, agent in charge who handled the samples at CBI, said the length of time for producing results depends largely on the number of cases to be handled and the lab people available to perform the tests. A backlog has developed since the late '90s due to changing technologies that allow more and more evidence to be analyzed for DNA testing. Thus, law enforcement agencies request more tests.

The backlog is now dropping because of a grant from the legislature that has allowed upgrades in equipment and the addition of database analysts to the staff. "We are seeing a reduction (in the backlog) on a monthly basis," Arndt said, "but it will take some time to reduce it completely."

Arndt noted that the absolute minimum time to get results from DNA testing would be 24 to 48 hours, and that would be possible only if staff were working 24/7, a situation that might occur, for example, if a serial rapist would otherwise be at large. If one analyst worked normal hours on a single case, with no interruptions, and had a limited number of samples to deal with, he said, the results could be forthcoming in three to four days. Arndt said the six-month delays experienced by Feyen in the past were a result of the accumulated backlog.

The Denver lab of CBI performs the bulk of testing, aided by labs in Montrose and Pueblo. Arndt said all three labs could perform the required DNA tests. "We do no outsourcing of DNA testing," said Arndt.

Labs often must work with small samples of fluid or tissue on clothing or other materials, said Arndt, but lab analysts also leave enough of a sample so that retests can be done if requested by the defense.