As Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Gov. Jim Doyle both focus on forensics and cleaning up the some-1,700 DNA cases backlogged at the state crime lab, ""CSI: Wisconsin"" seems less farfetched than one might think.
Van Hollen took his first step to clean up the criticized crime lab Monday by announcing Gary Hamblin as the head of the Division of Law Enforcement Services. Hamblin, former Dane County sheriff, is expected to address the growing number of backlogs, which have been accumulating since 2003.
Doyle will propose to hire 15 new analysts over the course of two years in his upcoming budget to help process the waiting cases, while Van Hollen vowed in his inaugural address to put an immediate end to the DNA-cases dilemma.
""The ever-growing backlogs at the crime labs must be reduced once and for all,"" he said.
A certain number of backlogs in a state crime lab are common nationwide. Minnesota currently has 557 DNA cases backlogged, according to Frank Dolejsi, director of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminial Apprehension Lab.
""I think if you called any lab in the country, they're going to have a backlog,"" Dolejsi said.
He added that backlogs often accumulate, ironically, as a result of success in crime labs.
""When you're successful with these cases, law enforcement sees that and starts submitting more cases in new areas,"" Dolejsi said.
To speed up the processing of backlogged cases in their state, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed hiring 20 forensic experts over the course of two years.
As early as 2003, when Wisconsin's DNA backlog had just surpassed 400 cases, then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager called on the state Legislature to increase funding to promote and strengthen forensics used in state court cases.
""It's time for the Legislature to provide us with the much-needed resources to match our growing DNA sample caseload,"" Lautenschlager said in a September 2003 statement.
However, Lautenschlager's tenure saw the backlog of DNA cases nearly quadruple to its current number.
Van Hollen's office could not be reached for further comment on specifics about his plan to halt the backlog build-up.
