Wilson Wants Crime Labs Upgraded

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday proposed a $300-million upgrade of crime labs and police computer systems around California, saying officers need better technology to fight crime.

Wilson would add the $300-million proposal to the $2.5-billion crime-fighting plan that he already wants to put before voters in November. Legislators will likely decide this summer whether to put the measure on the ballot.

The governor outlined the plan at a speech before the California Peace Officers Assn. annual training conference at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. “We’ve got to put the heat on lawmakers to give you the reforms you need to do your jobs properly,” Wilson told the gathering of about 350.

Under Wilson’s proposal, about half of the $300 million would be spent to refurbish crime labs around the state.

Police around California say they need greater access to such labs, particularly for routine crimes. And some point to questions during the O.J. Simpson murder trial about the Los Angeles Police Department’s lab as a warning of what happens when the labs don’t get enough attention.

The other half of the $300 million would be used to upgrade a statewide communications system used to check the possible arrest and conviction histories of criminal suspects.

The network would enable police to more rapidly check a suspect’s history and to tap into a computer library of fingerprints.

“We really need this to go into the 21st century,” said Irvine Police Chief Charles Brobeck, the incoming president of the California Peace Officers Assn.

Finally, Wilson wants to give taxpayers the option of designating $1 of their state income taxes for local law enforcement agencies. The agencies could spend the money as they wanted.

The rest of the proposed bond issue, some $2.5 billion, would be targeted for construction of prisons, jails and youth detention halls.