NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A whole year could pass before the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation processes firearms evidence recovered at a crime scene in Tennessee.
Despite recent efforts to reduce backlogs, the TBI is currently overwhelmed with firearms cases, with the average wait time for results stretching to 71 weeks. That's more than a year.
"If I take one week to work on a rush case, the oldest case in the unit gets a week older, and it's just a vicious cycle," said TBI Special Agent Connor Lamberson, a supervisor in the firearms forensics unit. "Right now, we're seeing those increases partly because we're working so many rush and expedited requests."
In April, a quarter of the lab's work will be dedicated to expedited or rush cases, typically involving homicides or attempted homicides, according to Lamberson.
"At this point in time, every signed-off and trained examiner in here is currently working an expedited or rush case," Lamberson said.
The work that evidence examiners in the Firearms and Toolmark Identification Unit perform has the potential to make communities safer. The TBI aims to achieve an eight to 12-week turnaround rather than the current 71-week average.
Mike Lyttle, TBI Assistant Director of Forensic Services, explained several factors contributing to the backlog.
"The cases just become more complicated over time. We may do additional testing that we didn't provide years before," Lyttle said. "It may be that the population of Tennessee is increasing, so we're seeing more cases associated with that population increase."
Since 2022, the state legislature has funded 50 positions to cut processing times in the TBI's crime labs in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson. However, the impact hasn't yet been felt in firearms testing.
"In a lot of units, the training period is a year or maybe 18 months. Firearms is unique in that their training period is two years, so we have not seen the impact of the new people in affecting turnaround time," Lyttle said.
The situation contrasts sharply with rape kit testing, which reached a peak wait time of 45 weeks in August 2022. In Jackson, the processing time was even longer at 50 weeks. With several new hires now trained, that testing turnaround has decreased to just 10-11 weeks.
"I think we've demonstrated that we've improved turnaround time in many other units by adding people, and we've got the same formula in firearms. It's just going to take a little longer to get there," Lyttle said. "It's both a priority that we work with agencies to expedite a case that needs to be worked on, but we can't change the fact that training just takes a long time. So we're really burning that candle on both ends as best we can — hoping we can meet in the middle ultimately with a solution that works for everybody."
Of the 50 positions the state funded in recent years, 49 have been filled, with 11 of those hires still in training. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations is currently studying the feasibility of an additional state crime lab, possibly in Shelby County.
Have you or someone you know been affected by delays in evidence processing? Share your experience by emailing hannah.mcdonald@NewsChannel5.com to help us understand the real-world impact of these backlogs.
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