Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2012 | Page 18

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

respondents. Many states across the United States have programs
where police officers are trained to use field drug test kits and testify
in preliminary hearings. One program, the Field Investigation Drug
Officer (FIDO) program, is being used today in Utah, Florida, and
Arizona. These three states have greatly reduced their drug backlog
with the use of the FIDO program.
Using field drug tests can reduce the drug related backlog in crime
laboratories, as well as, decrease the processing turnaround time for
drug cases. Field drug tests can be used by the police officer who then
testifies as an expert during preliminary hearings. This further reduces
the number of samples submitted to the crime laboratory, which
clears or reduces the laboratory’s backlog. The laboratory’s focus
would be to perform analyses on felony drug cases, drug cases that
go to trial, after a preliminary hearing, or cases where a field test kit
produced an unclear result.

FIGURE 3: Utah BFS Crime Laboratory; Graph showing the number of controlled substance cases the lab received from 2000 to 2008.
The lab has reduced controlled substance submissions by 57% from
2003 to 2008.

As of 2009, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime
laboratories and the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services laboratories
have posted a zero drug chemistry analysis backlog. Before the use of
the FIDO program, Phoenix Arizona’s police department laboratory
received approximately 12,000 analysis requests per year. As of 2007,
that number has been reduced to 3,741 requests for analysis (See
Figure 2).

Both the Phoenix Arizona Police Department and the Utah BFS have
posted impressive results with the use of the field drug tests. Each
laboratory has demonstrated the value of the FIDO program in the
reduction of drug related testing backlogs in crime laboratories. This
program, and programs similar to it, reduce backlogs, save time, and
save money. The estimated cost for a single item laboratory analysis is
approximately $50.00, while the cost of one field test kit is approximately $1.00 to $2.00 (Kanable, 2008).
DISCUSSION
Field drug test kits have been available for several decades but police
departments did not start using them until recently. Chemical color
tests are popular because they rely on simple chemical reactions and
produce visible results that can be interpreted with the naked eye and
are inexpensive (O’Neal, Crouch, & Fatah, 2000, p. 190). Within the
last ten years, police departments around the United States started
using field drug test kits to test for narcotics.
Various states are using these field drug tests to reduce their backlog. The National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC)
developed a program that trains law enforcement officers in the field
to test for controlled substances (Sylvester, 2009, p. 6). The Field
Investigation Drug Officer (FIDO) program trains officers to perform
presumptive color tests and to testify in court about their results. The
Utah Bureau of Forensic Services was the pilot site for the program
and has dramatically reduced its testing backlog for drug related
samples.

FIGURE 2: Phoenix Arizona Police Department; Graph of Drug
cases sent to the crime laboratory compared to the amount of field
drug tests performed by police officers from 2000 to 2008.
Utah Bureau of Forensic Services (BFS) has also dramatically reduced
their drug backlog with the use of field drug tests. Before the use of
field test kits, Utah BFS had a turnaround time of six to eight weeks
on controlled substance cases. As of 2006, Utah BFS had no drug
backlog and reduced the turnaround time of controlled substances to
less than two weeks (Sylvester, 2009, p. 6). Figure 3 shows the average
amount of controlled substance cases the Utah BFS lab received from
2000 to 2008 (Henry).

The FIDO program supplies training materials to agencies, who can
then tailor the training to suit their specific needs (Sylvester, 2009,
p. 7). The FIDO training program provides class outlines to agen16