The Queensland government will double the number of court-reporting scientists employed by its embattled forensics lab in a bid to clear a DNA testing backlog stretching up to four years.
Attorney-General Deb Frecklington made the announcement alongside former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller, who was appointed the director of Forensic Science Queensland (FSQ) and tasked with overhauling the state-run facility by the Crisafulli government in August.
FSQ will increase the number of employed court reporting scientists from nine to 19, with six positions signed off in recent weeks, and a further four to be brought in by the end of the month.
Deb Frecklington, Premier David Crisafulli, Dr Kirsty Wright and Mick Fuller at an announcement in August.Credit: Courtney Kruk
Court-reporting scientists help to match DNA samples with profiles listed on Queensland Police’s information and records database, QPrime.
Fuller said the appointments would help clear the backlog of DNA samples currently being retested after whistleblowers unearthed evidence of routine contamination, unreliable results and delays causing major impacts to court proceedings, police and victims.
“Unfortunately, every day there’s a victim in Queensland that goes into the backlog,” Fuller said.
“The backlog was up to four years when I started, which is unacceptable.”
Earlier this year, the Crisafulli government estimated there were about 13,000 samples to be tested, with the average time to finalise results taking more than 400 days.
Queensland enlisted leading United States forensics laboratory Bode Technology to help, with the first 171 DNA samples from 53 cases landing for testing at the end of August.
Bode has capacity to test and process 1000 major crime samples and 175 forensic medical examination kits per month.
Fuller admitted that volume remained an issue, with police and the lab working to streamline processes to prioritise testing for serious crimes.
“Things like sexual assaults and murders, there shouldn’t be a backlog,” Fuller said.
“There will be peaks and troughs, but in volume crime it is very difficult because police collect more DNA all the time … so it’s very difficult to promise a zero base.
“But the goal is that there are ebbs and flows, and you are getting to every case in a reasonable amount of time.”
Based on current modelling, Fuller said testing for crimes such as sexual assault should drop by 100 every month, bringing Queensland closer to other states that complete testing in weeks.
Frecklington said the government would not outsource testing to other labs, and was staying focused on “getting our lab back on track”.
“The priority is to ensure that victims get faster access to justice, and the best way that we can do that is to continue with the outsourcing model that we have determined,” she said.
“We’ve been constantly communicating with the courts and the entire justice system, [and] we’ve got a priority case management system now.”
Results from the first DNA shipment to Bode Technology are due back imminently, with a second shipment of samples now in the United States for testing.
A third shipment, expected to contain hundreds of sexual assault kits, and all major crime samples held by Queensland Police, is scheduled to be sent in early December.
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