The establishment of the national DNA database has overwhelmed the State laboratory with work and has led to the build-up of a large backlog in the testing of illegal drug seizures.
The backlog means the laboratory is unable to test some illegal drug seizures within the required six-month time frame, although this has not yet resulted in any cases collapsing in court.
Forensic Science Ireland (FSI), which is responsible for testing illegal drugs found by gardaí, said many of its resources have been diverted into establishing the new national DNA database resulting in a large backlog of drug cases.
The drugs section of the laboratory primarily deals with two types of cases, Section 3 prosecutions which are for simple possession and Section 15 prosecutions which are for possession with intent to supply. It typically deals with between 8,000 and 10,000 cases a year.
For Section 3 offences, when a suspect has drugs for their own personal use, gardaí have six months to bring a charge, under rules set out by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
John Power, who headed up the drug division of FSI until recently, said this window is sometimes missed by the laboratory for several reasons including the complexities of analysing new drugs, a lack of trained personal and failures by the gardaí to follow up on their cases.
“We do miss the six-month window, that’s the reality of it,” Mr Power said.
“The lab has actually been focused on the implementation of the DNA database. So staff have been taken away from the drugs area. So our backlog has built up, that’s the reality.”
Prioritised
The deputy director of the laboratory Dr Seán McDermott said that the backlog has not resulted in any cases collapsing to date. He said gardaí can request a drugs test be prioritised if there is a court date approaching and that the laboratory can meet these requests.
Mr Power, who is now head of Chromatographic Services in FSI, said one reason for the problem is that the laboratory has been prioritising the more serious Section 15 cases which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“In the drugs section we try to prioritise cases where we are making a difference. In recent years we prioritised the Section 15 and we were giving a reasonable turnaround on that. But then we were told, ‘look you still have to do the Section 3 cases’.
“We had built up a fairly large backlog of Section 3s. So this year we had been concentrating on Sections 3s and now our sections 15s are building up.”
In recent years FSI have attempted to encourage the use of “presumptive testing”. This means that if a person is caught with drugs they can accept the substance is illegal before going to court and there is no need for testing.
However Mr Power said that some defendants will change their mind at the last minute and insist that the drugs be tested.
“It’s a stalling tactic,” he said, adding that some judges also refuse to accept presumptive testing.
Pending court date
FSI said it has a prioritisation system and that cases can be processed more quickly if there is a pending court date. It said no court cases have collapsed because it missed the deadline.
Mr Power said that in some cases the prosecuting garda never asks for the results of a test. This could be for several reasons such as the garda moving station or the case being dropped by the DPP.
“I think we have a police force that’s undergoing an awful lot of change at the moment. So what priority is given to Section 3 cases within division varies and response times vary. What I can tell you is if a guard rings up and prioritises a case we will usually get that out within 3-4 days, particularly if it has a court date pending.”
He said there has been additional investment in the laboratory recently but that the problem is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.
“We’re getting extra staff soon. One of the problems with getting extra staff is that people take a long time to train in forensic science. People take six months to a year before they become productive. So this problem will be with us for a while.”
