WSP’s Forensic Facelift: Tackling a Backlog Bigger Than a Hipster’s Playlist!

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) is on a mission to shrink a massive backlog in firearms forensics—a backlog that’s currently a whopping 955 requests and counting. Can you imagine waiting 379 days for something that should take a few weeks? That’s like waiting for your favorite band to drop a new album, but way less fun and not nearly as danceable. To combat the issue, the WSP is doubling down on their lab capacity by both bringing in new forensic scientists and tapping the expertise of current staff. Sounds like a solid plan, right?

Chief John R Batiste is pretty optimistic, promising to restructure and hire to get a handle on this uptick in cases. While they’re at it, they aim for a 10% reduction by next year and an ambitious 60% cut by 2027. Loftis reminds us that the number of firearm-related cases is also on the rise, making this a pressing need. One can only hope that as the lab expands, they’re also upgrading their coffee supplies. How else are they going to keep up with all those late-night analyses when you’ve got years of cases to catch up on?

As WSP pushes to meet these ambitious goals, it’s good to remember that good things take time—especially in forensics. With an industry-standard turnaround of 120 days by 2028, fingers crossed they make this a reality because waiting is never easy. So, what do you think? Will they pull it off? Or is this just another ‘empty promise’ situation?

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