HENDERSON CSI: Evidence of fundraising

Group hopes to raise $37 million to build crime lab

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By BEN STEPHENS

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Rick Workman thinks it's high time the state got another crime lab to keep up with the population growth of the last decade. And he's taken matters into his own hands by starting a fundraising effort to build a lab in Henderson someday.

Workman said the capacity to analyze crime scene evidence in Nevada has not kept up with growth and now departments have such a backlog of cases, the ability to solve crimes is hindered.

The criminalistics administrator for the Henderson Police Department, Workman has firsthand knowledge of the situation. He oversees the department's crimes scene investigation unit, fingerprints and evidence vault.

"This is an absolute necessity. Increased capacity was needed years ago," he said.

Workman, chairman of the group Friends of Henderson CSI, hopes to raise $37 million to build a 77,000-sqaure-foot facility. He said cost estimates were based on an October price-per-square-foot quote and a start date of March 2008.

"If we're completely on time... that's a reasonable cost," he said.

Despite his position with the police department, Workman said he is not coordinating this effort with it.

"I do this as a private citizen. They (the department) can't raise money," he said, adding the department does not want the public to take on the expense. "We don't want to go to the taxpayers and ask for money."

However, if and when funds are made available, the city would be responsible for planning, building and operating the facility, he said.

Workman estimated that the crime lab would require the city to hire at least another 100 employees, ranging from crime scene analysts to clerical support. He does not yet have a solid estimate for personnel costs or what it would cost to operate the facility annually.

"This is something the city will naturally have to absorb," he said, adding he was confident the city's growth would produce the revenue needed to operate the facility through the general fund someday. "It's not something that's impossible."

Planning the project is expected to take six months, with a build out of 18 months to two years. "And I'm hoping to have all the money raised in a year," he said.

Workman could not provide a solid dollar figure, but he said little money has been raised during the effort's infant stages. But his cause received a small shot in the arm late last month when Connell Outdoor Advertising donated a 14-foot-by-48-foot billboard space to advertise the effort at the northeast corner of Russell and Wynn roads in Las Vegas.

Friends of Henderson CSI board member Dan Connell said his brother Michael, president of the sign company, donated the posting for a month and it will come down at the end of July.

"At the time, Connell had an open (sign) face," he said, adding that the group hopes to get space elsewhere if any is available once the sign comes down.

A 31-year retired Metropolitan Police Department officer who now works as a part-time forensic investigative assistant for the Henderson Police Department, Dan Connell said the donation had nothing to do with his being related to Michael and that his brother wanted to support the cause.

Michael Connell was unavailable for comment.

Workman said there are only two crime labs in the entire state -- one in Washoe County and the other operated by Las Vegas police.

"Metro is considered to be a regional lab," he said, meaning that other departments in the county can send in their evidence to be processed. "But they have a hard time keeping up with their own cases. So we don't send much to them."

Metropolitan Police Department crime lab officials were unavailable for comment in time for publication.

While the Henderson Police Department currently sends less than 10 percent of its evidence to Metro to be processed, Workman said a new lab would ensure that all of Henderson's evidence would be processed as a first priority. If the money were raised to expand the current Metro facility, he said there is no way to guarantee it would not outgrow itself again and be unable to process evidence from other labs, putting Henderson's second to Metro's.

Having a second lab would also be "geographically smart," Workman said, pointing to one situation in which the Metro lab had to close temporarily before and there was nothing there to pick up the slack.

Workman said that more crime lab capacity would decrease crime. He cited studies that have reported the goal of most crime labs is to reduce backlogs to six months or less, which he called unacceptable.

Because of the backlog, he said there are many crimes that cannot be processed and criminals like rapists are believed to be committing more crimes during the latency period.

"That person's already committed six other rapes by the time of his arrest," he said.

Dan Connell, whose duties with the department include processing the latent fingerprints after they are submitted to evidence, said he also has a backlog of at least four months.

The Henderson Police Department even has some cold homicide cases Workman believes could potentially be solved if the resources were available.

Workman emphasized that a new crime lab would be like Metro's, in that it would be used to help the rest of the Las Vegas Valley as well Henderson.

"We will spend every spare minute that we have helping other police departments," he said.

Confident in the fundraising effort, Workman said as the money rolls in he hopes to begin working with the city to plan the project.

Workman said he has thought of possible locations for the project, although one has not yet been selected. He said as the city requests land from the Bureau of Land Management for future police substations, a request for additional land for a crime lab could piggyback.

"I'm trying to educate the public what we need," he said.

For more information on the project or Friends of Henderson CSI, visit www.NevadaCSI.com.