Coroner's workload, budget up
2007 proposal includes three more scientists
By Kimball Parry
Cincinnati Enquirer
November 20, 2006
When they receive the proposed 2007 budget today, Hamilton County commissioners will see many cuts - but not in the coroner's office.
Instead, the coroner's $3.8 million budget and 44 employees would grow by $200,000 next year - so three scientists can be hired to help solve crimes and prosecute cases.
"Most people in Hamilton County are concerned about crime. If you want justice, we have to have these people," Coroner O'dell Owens said Tuesday.
An outspoken advocate for fighting crime, Owens has been a proactive coroner. Now, he's seeking more help in three specific areas. The extra money would pay for three new jobs:
A fourth DNA analyst. Unlike on crime television shows, real DNA testing takes time. And with the increase in crime, Owens said, comes an increase in requests to do DNA testing.
"We get so many things submitted. In one case, we may get 30 or 40 pieces" to be tested, he said.
A ballistics expert. The current expert, Will Schrand, already has retired once, come back and could retire at any time.
"We are so backed up (on ballistics testing) that we are still working on 2005 cases," Owens said.
Without this position, firearms tests would have to be done by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which tests for most of Ohio's counties. That could take up to two years, Owens said, much too long to get the case to trial.
Drug analysts. "Ohio has eight labs for drug testing. We are one of them," Owens said.
A change in state law this summer allows police to arrest someone for DUI if he is suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. To prove that, the defendants' blood has to be drug-tested.
Testing also has to be done in even minor cases such as carrying an open container. It's not a crime if that container has something other than alcohol in it, and authorities have to prove it is alcohol to win a conviction.
Hamilton County's 2005 general budget - which pays for the day-to-day operation of government - is $253 million.
County Administrator Patrick Thompson said late Tuesday he didn't know what the proposed 2007 budget would be even though he is presenting it to commissioners today.
"Our target is to keep it at that (2005 level) or below that," Thompson said.