JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Governor Mike Parson suggests a $1.4 million investment to enhance the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab.
According to the Boone County prosecutor, DNA testing results can take anywhere from 10.5 months to 20 months. The Department of Public Safety aims to enhance efficiency by acquiring four microscopes and hiring three new employees, crucial for accurate drug testing information needed for prosecutions.
Almost four years ago, Parson revealed an 8,000-foot expansion of the crime lab to boost DNA processing capabilities and overall efficiencies.
“It’s really critical we have reliable information to be able to get the testing we need done on those drugs so that we can move forward with prosecutions,” said Boone County prosecutor Roger Johnson.
Jefferson City urgently tackles a major challenge with a rise in fentanyl overdoses surpassing combined homicides and traffic deaths.
“It’s not unheard of for us to have things that we thought were drugs,” Johnson said. “But the lab testing shows that they were counterfeits or nowadays, especially what we see are counterfeit Percocet pills. That almost all of the Percocet pills sold on the streets nowadays are fentanyl pills that are counterfeited as Percocet pills.”