The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - An increased budget and larger staff have helped Kentucky crime labs eliminate a backlog of drug cases that plagued the justice system for years.

The state's six crime labs have handled about 16,000 drug cases since January, and no cases older than 60 days remain, said Maj. Sonny Cease, assistant director of the Kentucky State Police technical services division.

In the past several months, Shane Young, chief narcotics prosecutor for the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, said he has seen an "amazing" difference in getting lab results.

"It is 100 percent better than it was this time last year," Young said.

During the backlog, Young said, results were seldom ready when he called for them. Now, he said, nine out of 10 cases he looks at include lab results.

Having results makes the entire justice process run more smoothly, he said.

"We've been scrambling around to be as productive as possible," said Jeff Warnecke, manager of the central laboratory in Frankfort.

The scramble began in earnest after Lt. Gov. Steve Pence announced in December that, if the labs didn't reduce the backload of drug cases, they would be moved directly under the supervision of the Justice Cabinet, which he heads.

The six labs, with a total of 130 analysts and support staff, handle cases from about 400 law-enforcement agencies, Cease said. Their total caseload went from 20,700 in 1989 to roughly 40,000 in 2003.

The legislature eventually increased the crime lab budget, allowing it to hire 11 more people in 2002 and 15 in 2003, Warnecke said. But the new technicians had to be trained for six months before really getting to work, while others were retiring or taking higher-paying jobs in other states.

So despite a statewide hiring freeze, the crime labs received permission to fill vacancies. The backlog was attacked on other fronts, too.

About 20 percent of cases were eliminated by combing a statewide court record system to determine which cases had already been settled in court, state police Commissioner Mark Miller said. And 5,200 cases were sent to private labs in a one-time effort to shrink the backlog, Cease said.

Labs that had lighter caseloads also took on cases from others.

"The cooperation shown between the labs has been amazing," said Capt. Tom Porter, state police commander for the labs.

Drug-evidence analysts at all the labs worked overtime and they got help from analysts who normally handle evidence in other types of cases - state police labs test firearms, DNA, blood alcohol, arson and other types of evidence.

Backlogs "are a persistent problem nationally," said Roger Kahn, president of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. "Crime labs are continuously fighting against a backlog because resources are often a problem."

This year, drug cases are running ahead of projections, which puts crime labs on target for their largest caseload yet, Warnecke said.

But Pence expects the labs to keep up now.