NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new, draft report by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) revealed a lack of space in Tennessee's crime labs has caused significant delays in nearly every category of forensic testing turnaround times.

The report found the Knoxville and Jackson crime labs are at capacity, and the one in Nashville isn't far behind, resulting in longer turnaround times for forensic testing.

The General Assembly passed a bill to launch the study following the murder of Memphis teacher, Eliza Fletcher, and the revelation her killer should have been behind bars for a rape that happened a year before.

However, the rape kit was still sitting in the TBI's crime lab waiting to be tested.

In response, the state created 50 additional TBI crime lab positions to help process sexual assault kits. As a result, turnaround times for rape kits decreased from 45 weeks in Aug. 2022 to 14 weeks in Dec. 2024.

However, turnaround times for every other forensic category have increased, according to the report. For example, firearms analysis turnaround times increased from 38 weeks to 67 weeks from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2025, and violent forensic biology evidence turnaround times increased from 24 weeks to 37 weeks during the same period.

“Currently, the primary constraint on TBI’s capacity is space," said Madison Thorn, a senior research associate with TACIR.

An increased demand for forensic testing in Tennessee has also contributed to the problem.

“I know a lot of the backlog is because we’ve seen a dramatic increase in certain areas across the state as it relates to crime," Rep Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) said.

Since there is no more room to expand the Knoxville lab on its current plot of land, the TACIR report recommended the state build a new, bigger lab in Knoxville, in addition to expanding the Nashville and Jackson labs, and creating a new Chattanooga lab to help shorten turnaround times.

However, the state will need to find a funding source to keep the labs running.

“We can come up with different one-time money to build facilities and all those kinds of things, but to maintain these facilities over time requires us to think creatively about how we fund these facilities over time," Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) said.

TACIR also recommended other methods to reduce turnaround times, including legislation to allow rapid DNA testing at law enforcement booking stations, which is an automated process that creates DNA profiles from cheek swabs within one to two hours. The group also suggested the state support resource-sharing partnerships to train local law enforcement agencies across the state through funding and technical assistance.

The TBI's goal is to have an average turnaround time of 8 to 12 weeks. The TBI's current average turnaround time is 25 weeks.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-news/tbi-crime-labs-forensic-testing-backlog-report/