The state's decision to assume control of the city's DNA lab has drawn disapproval from a state senator and the head of a DNA oversight committee.
A key issue is whether the state Department of Public Safety has authority to revoke an agreement between the city and the FBI that puts the city in charge of the program.
The lab, at the Metropolitan Forensic Science Center on Second Street and Montaño NW, has been in operation for more than a decade. DPS said Thursday it was taking over the lab and moving its operations to Santa Fe.
John F. Krebsbach, chairman of the New Mexico DNA Identification System Oversight Committee, said in a letter to city public safety director Darren White that he was "distressed" to learn of the DPS takeover through the media instead of by formal notice.
The city learned about the decision after the Journal sought comment.
Krebsbach also said the oversight committee, composed of nine voting members, was not formally notified of the change.
"To date, the oversight committee has not received, nor had the opportunity to formally provide, information or input regarding the apparent rationale or decision-making process by DPS," wrote Krebsbach, a city employee who works at the lab.
But DPS officials said that's simply not true. Every member of the committee was notified, Chief General Counsel Germaine Chappelle said.
The move was made in part to save the state about $400,000 in annual costs, DPS said. It also will expedite by up to a month the testing and analyzing of DNA samples taken from crime victims and suspects.
Officials plan to move computers on which the data is stored to the Santa Fe lab, and they will analyze it there.
White contends DPS does not have authority to make the decision, because the agreement to run the lab is between the FBI and the city.
However, Chappelle said the program is a unit of DPS under the DNA Identification Center Statute, which gives the agency power over who runs the lab.
Essentially, the city cannot enter into an agreement with the FBI without the consent of DPS, Chappelle said.
State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, said he was against the DPS takeover.
"For DPS to come in and take this over is absolutely ridiculous. To do this, it's a stab in the back," McSorley said.
DPS maintains taking over the lab will save taxpayer money. The Santa Fe lab, it says, will save money because DNA samples of both victims and suspects will be tested and analyzed there. The Albuquerque lab tests victims' DNA locally but ships out suspects' DNA to an out-of-state location.
