THE GOHS GBI CRIME LAB GRANT
The successful prosecution and adjudication of driving under the influence (DUI) cases often requires scientific analysis of a driver’s blood or urine, providing evidence that substances are presentthatcan cause impaired driving. Over the past two years in Georgia, there has been a significant increase in the number of DUI cases submitted to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Crime Lab for scientific analysis thatcontain drugs.
Cases involving abuse of prescription medications now represent one-third or more of the total cases analyzed that test positive for drugs. The amount of lab time required for forensic toxicologists to complete the analysis of a case in which a single driver has consumed multiple prescription drugs has increased proportionally to the number of drugs found.
Obtaining accurate and certifiable results for use in the courts where individuals are being tried for suspicion of DUI is a time-consuming and labor intensive process. First, each drug case requires a preliminary drug screen to detect which drug classes may be present in the sample. Another round of tests identifies the exact drugs that are present and determines the levels found. Each separate drug analysis step requires approximately five business days per drug class for a batch of 20 to 30 samples. The state crime lab currently averages more than 1,400 of these cases per year.
The primary mission of the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences is to provide accurate, scientific analysis of evidence submitted in criminal investigations in a timely manner. To help the GBI Crime Lab in their efforts to protect the public from impaired drivers, the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety is awarding a grant of $236,000 to the Crime Lab to purchase a highly-specialized scientific testing instrument to expedite DUI blood and urine evidence testing. The device is called a liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer/mass spectrometer or “LCMSMS instrument” for short.
Using a 2003 Research and Development Grant from the National Institute of Justice, the GBI Crime Lab has already researched LCMSMS instrumentation and determined that by using a simple, rapid extraction process, it allows for the detection and identification of more than 100 different drug compounds commonly encountered in most DUI cases. Forensic experts at the GBI Crime Labsay the new LCMSMS to be purchased through the GOHS Highway Safety Grant, will significantly reduce sample preparation time,improve test result turn-around time, and widen the scope of DUI toxicology casework for vehicular homicide cases and impaired driving prosecutions for the citizens of the State of Georgia.
Governor’s Office of Highway Safety
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Sonny Perdue, Governor Robert F. Dallas, Director