By: Barry A.J. Fisher
Issue: August/September 2007
Building a New Crime Lab Using Strategic Partnerships
Finding ways to finance a new crime lab is a challenging
effort, even under the best of circumstances. Often when budgets are tight finding
sources of funding can become a near impossibility.
By the early 1990s the
Los Angles County Sheriff’s crime lab was faced with chronic overcrowding
along with the classic symptoms of “sick building syndrome.” We
initially moved into our facility in the mid 1970s, supposedly for a couple
of years while funding was located to build a new laboratory. Twenty-five years
later, that facility was no longer doing the job for us. Major systems such
as air conditioning and electrical were failing, and the staff was becoming
increasingly unhappy with overcrowded conditions.
Overcrowding is an insidious
problem. It’s very easy to get used to inadequate space and accept it
as a reality of the way things are meant to be; however, productivity and employee
morale begin to suffer. Often, by the time laboratory management recognizes
the need to act, overcrowding goes from being a small problem to a serious
issue.
We began to look at building a new laboratory beginning in 1994. The
difficulty was that the county was in a periodic financial slump, so the
decision was made to wait for better economic times. Through a series of unanticipated
events and good fortune, however, we found a way to build a new facility.
THE IDEA
While visiting a local southern California laboratory which was holding an
accreditation ceremony, I had the occasion to speak with the dean of engineering
from a local university. The dean explained that they were in the early stages
in discussion with the state to build a laboratory on their campus. The idea
of a crime laboratory on a university campus struck me as a marvelous one.
I saw it as a kind of medical school/hospital arrangement. I immediately
spoke with a colleague who was at this ceremony, Anthony Longhetti, head
of the California State University, Los Angeles graduate program in criminalis-tics.
Cal State LA has been offering a Master of Science degree in criminalistics
for many years and, indeed, many of our employees are graduates of that program.
Tony, in turn, spoke with people at the university and before long we had
a buy-in that this was a worthwhile endeavor. Around the same time, the
county grand jury was studying the needs of both the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department and the Los Angeles Police Department’s crime laboratories.
The grand jury concluded that it might be worthwhile to consolidate the two
laboratories. While we decided that consolidation was feasible, we felt that
building a new laboratory and sharing space was a viable possibility.
THE PROCESS
The county put up money to conduct a needs assessment. We interviewed a number
of architectural firms who had experience building crime laboratories. (I
would highly recommend using only architectural firms with specific experience
in designing crime labs for any projects that you might undertake.) The firm
we selected had the foresight to include on its team, a former county supervisor.
We immediately saw the value of that consultant. Constructing a laboratory
on a state university campus, which included both the city and the county,
was potentially a difficult task to achieve, and a former elected official
would do well to provide assistance to move the project forward. Once the
needs assessment was concluded, the next step was to locate funding.
Funding
a major crime laboratory facility, in our case at the cost of over a hundred
million dollars, was no small undertaking. It requires a considerable amount
of marketing, salesmanship, and creating a “buzz” among the people
involved. Fortunately for us, our Sheriff, Lee Baca, saw the beauty of a
joint crime lab housing the city and the county sited on a university campus.
He took this idea to Sacramento, the state capital, and began to obtain funding
from the state legislature and the governor.
Initially, the state legislature
passed a bond measure proposition that required ratification by the electorate.
A two-thirds vote was needed for passage. The measure passed in Los Angeles
County but in none of the other counties. The Sheriff went back to speak
with the governor, who agreed to place an amount to fund the program into
his budget. Unfortunately, this occurred during the energy crisis, and
the item was taken out of the budget and turned into a general obligation line
item. This required the state to oversee the construction and conduct the
building with the consultation of the city and county.
In addition to getting
the lab funded, we faced a number of other challenges. First, we had to overcome
the cultural divide between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department. Both are very large police agencies who
have different responsibilities and different ways of conducting business.
We discovered, over many months of meetings and discussions, that we actually
had far more in common . than we had different and the staffs were generally
willing to work together and cooperate. We did, however, prepare a number of
memoranda of understanding to cover situations such as conflict resolution,
operation of the building, and such to deal with problems that might arise
in the future. One of the lessons learned is that it’s important to try
to “think out-of-the-box” in dealing with problems. Sometimes traditional
solutions are not the only way to address problems. Bringing in strategic partners
can help, particularly if you can package the idea in an interesting and exciting
manner.
OPERATION
The overall oversight of the facility, while under the state, is conducted
by an entity known as a Joint Powers Authority (JPA). The JPA, in our case,
consists of the city and county chief administrative officers, the chief
of police, the sheriff, and a representative of the university. By agreement,
the JPA oversees and runs the entire project. We will use it to consider
the various operations and considerations of the building, with the JPA having
the final say in any problem areas.
With any project of this size, it’s
important to be positive. Laboratory directors have to become champions of
their projects and never miss an opportunity to talk about them in positive
ways with stakeholders and reporters. It’s always easy to look at the
problems that occur, but focusing on the positive outcome helps spur on the
program.
We celebrated the grand opening of our lab with a ribbon cutting
ceremony on May 11, 2007. It has been an interesting project from beginning
to end, and it shows how people working together and developing partnerships
can help to find ways to build a large laboratory. We hope our experience
will be a model for many others across the country.
Barry A. J. Fisher has been the Crime Laboratory Director for the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department since 1987. Fisher, a native New Yorker, received
his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the City College of New York,
a Master of Science degree in organic chemistry from Purdue University, and
an M.B.A. degree from California State University, Northridge. He is a Distinguished
Fellow and past-president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, past-president
of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, past-president of the
American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, and a past-chairman of the
American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors – Laboratory Accreditation
Board. His textbook, Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, in its 7th edition,
enjoys wide popularity. Fisher can be reached at bajfisher@earthlink.net
