As the number of laboratories producing methamphetamine in Kansas continued to increase in 2001, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation devoted more resources to shutting down the labs and prosecuting their operators.

It found and shut down a record number of them.

In his annual report to state lawmakers, KBI Director Larry Welch said that while meth labs continued to be a major focus of the Topeka-based statewide agency, the other fastest-growing crimes were computer crime and child pornography.

But he said that fiscal constraints were making it difficult for the KBI to perform its basic functions and that too many decisions about investigations are made based on funding, not on how best to solve crimes.

“I recognize and sympathize that these are not the most fun times to serve as state legislators,” Welch wrote to lawmakers. “Our state, like 42 others, is confronting significant shortfalls in revenue and, therefore, awesome fiscal challenges. There is simply not enough capital in the capitol.”

He offered a look at the following figures on the KBI’s work during 2001.

 Kansas law enforcement located a record 846 methamphetamine labs.

 A record 413 of the labs were operational at the time of the seizures.

 KBI forensic laboratories analyzed and processed a record 503 meth lab cases.

 By December 2001, 113 meth lab cases were awaiting analysis in KBI forensic laboratories, down from 299 in March 2001. Case submissions continued to increase, from 256 in 1999, 385 in 2000 to 503 in 2001.

 The KBI created a secure Web site for use by Kansas prosecutors to track progress of their meth lab cases at the KBI laboratories.

 Besides methamphetamine, the fastest-growing crime in Kansas is computer crime in general and child pornography in particular. The KBI assigned four agents full-time to those areas but is not able to handle all requests received from local law enforcement.

 There were a record 345 KBI felony convictions in 2001, up from 302 in 2000. There were 441 KBI arrests, down from 2000’s record 681.

 Nineteen new KBI agents were hired.

 The KBI High Risk Warrant Team was activated 16 times. Since the team’s creation, it has been utilized on 107 occasions on behalf of Kansas law enforcement.

 KBI forensic scientists collected a record 6,637 DNA samples during the last six months of 2001 from convicted violent offenders throughout the Kansas prison system.

 KBI toxicologists completed blood alcohol and drug analysis tests in 3,072 DUI cases for Kansas law enforcement and prosecutors.

 KBI toxicologists completed postmortem examinations in 573 investigations.

 KBI forensic scientists received 4,218 Kansas court testimony subpoenas.

 The KBI became the first FBI-certified state system for accessing criminal histories over the Internet.

 KBI special agents participate in seven multi-agency (federal and/or local) task forces across the state, involving narcotics, violent crime, terrorism and computer crime.

 Almost 16,100 cases of all disciplines were received by KBI laboratories from Kansas law enforcement in 2001.

 KBI chemists completed 8,782 drug cases for Kansas law enforcement.

Welch also shared his concerns about the future, given the state’s tight budget spot.

“I worry about our future abilities to carry out our responsibilities, given our state’s current and future fiscal challenges,” he said.

In 1995, he said, 14 percent of the agency’s total budget was paid by nonstate sources. By 2001, that had increased to 40 percent.

“Truly, we are no longer state-supported,” Welch said. “We have become state-assisted.”

Apart from the difficulty faced by the agency as it seeks more outside sources of funding, the tight budget also has required increases  some as much as 50 percent  in the prices charged for KBI services to agencies and courts across the state.

Still, he said, the agency is looking for ways to cut costs.

“We have cut back on travel, especially out-of-state, overnight stays, overtime pay and training,” Welch said. “Training is vital, and I did not take those steps without considerable deliberation. We are also closely monitoring purchases of materials, supplies and equipment, and closely watching cell phone usage.”

Welch called “personally painful” his decision earlier this month to cancel the KBI booth at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson.

“The point is that we are attempting to help you and ourselves fiscally, given the budgetary challenges we both face,” he said. “The problem is that so much help is needed and there is only so much the KBI can do by itself, given our responsibilities and obligations.”

Welch said he was both pleased and disappointed by the figures for meth labs last year.

“My surprise and disappointment came from the fact that I had hoped by now we would be able to see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ on the methamphetamine front,” he said. “We don’t see the light yet, but, thanks to a strong, unified effort across our state, we believe we can now make out the tunnel on the distant horizon.”