Ohio drops DNA evidence testing turnaround time

1/4/2013

COLUMBUS  — Ohio's attorney general is highlighting a drop in the time it takes the state's crime lab to process evidence.

Improving the crime lab was a campaign priority for Attorney General Mike DeWine, who took office in 2011.

DeWine says that in December 2010 state investigators took roughly 125 days to process biological evidence, typically blood or other body fluids that could link a suspect to a crime.

The average turnaround time last year was about half that. And in December, the lab took a record low of 20 days for results.

DeWine today attributed the faster processing to hiring more forensic scientists, adding equipment and doing a top-to-bottom analysis of how the lab handles evidence. The lab's staff size increased from 99 in 2010 to its current 148.