MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new report shows that Wisconsin's crime labs' testing turnaround times dipped across a number of disciplines last year.
The state Justice Department released its annual report on crime lab performance Thursday. It shows that the average turnaround times for results from drug, DNA, and toxicology tests took days and weeks longer in 2021 than in 2020.
Turnaround times for firearms testing improved by almost 100 days, however.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says the COVID-19 pandemic and an uptick of jury trials that required testimony kept analysts out of their labs for much of 2021.
But he says police are submitting fewer pieces of evidence for DNA testing, which bodes well for the labs going into 2022 and beyond.
