CLPEX Chat Board

I just want to put some "feelers" out and see if anyone here has had experiences with crime labs merging.

I am interested to see if there are city and county labs or city and city labs that have merged for one reason or another (budget, business, etc.) and the growing pains that have insued either because of the merge or prior to the merge. For example, if two large cities in adjoining counties both had crime labs and they merged for budgetary concerns, which entity's umbrella did the newly merged lab fall under? Was an oversight board created containing members from each LEO that had the final say in all crime lab matters?

I realize that one agency doesn't want to give up all of their power and hand it over to another. My county lab has been discussing a merger with the city lab for as long as I have worked here and the biggest concern for both is which agency is going to have to make the most concessions for ther merger to happen (if any concessions have to be made). Would an oversight board releive all of the tension or does it matter?

If someone has had this experience, you can respond here or IM me.

Are both labs ASCLD or ISO? If so I would not expect much in the way of concessions. However, employees tend to get the crap shoot if you lose benefits, seniority, etc. Sometimes it is the other way around and your benefits improve.

Neither lab is ASCLD or ISO but the county lab should be ASCLD by 2012.

I think when getting feedback on the issue in question, there is a very important point that may need to be considered. The county lab that is seeking to merge with the city lab has recently had issues with their Manager being convicted of evidence tampering. As a result of this action, there has recently been calls for audits, case reviews, and even suggestions of shutting down the county lab by various entities in the judicial and public sector. I am not at all implying that the problems with the county lab extends beyond the Manager, but one can not deny that the county lab is and will probably continue to carry the taint of having its Manager convicted of this crime. Because of this event, I believe that any advice given on how the possible merging of the two entities should occur should be given with the consideration of this pertinent issue.