Leaders of the Ohio crime lab that processes chemical evidence from opiate-related cases say they're having a hard time keeping up. Officials with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation think they might have a solution: send some of the work elsewhere.
BCI Superintendent Tom Stickrath says the crime lab is not only handling more cases because of the opioid crisis, it’s also handling more complicated cases.
“We’ve been adding staff as we have recognized this issue over the last twelve months or so. We’ve been adding some equipment, adding some staff. But we are also going to outsource some of this work,” Stickrath says.
Strickrath says some work will be outsourced to coroners' labs in Hamilton and Cuyahoga counties.
He says the legislature gave BCI and other crime labs about $2 million to pay for this expanded effort.
The effort comes amid an explosion in overdose deaths in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Health says there are now about eight people dying in the state every day from unintentional overdoses.
