The report on Classified Employee Turnover for Fiscal Year 2006 prepared by the State Auditors Office indicates that the turnover for DPS, agency 405, is 8.0%. The turnover for salary schedule "B", which is composed primarily of professional and managerial positions, is reported as 10.9%. The Texas Department of Public Safety Criminalist Association has been maintaining turnover statistics for several years and these records indicate that the Forensic Scientist turnover rate for the Department is around 11% per year. This is consistent with the SAO report.
While this turnover does not appear to be high it should be pointed out that the training of a Forensic Scientist can typically require as long as one year. Longer training is required in some disciplines such as firearms and trace evidence. Also take note that the total number of Forensic Scientists in DPS is around 180. The loss of 20 Forensic Scientists per year is significant to the operation of the DPS Crime Laboratory. A replacement Forensic Scientist must be trained by a senior Forensic Scientist. This means the Crime Laboratory loses the productive resources of two employees for approximately 1 year. Mathematically, the loss of productivity could be a significant 22%.
The DPS has been providing highly qualified Forensic Scientists to city, county, and federal crime laboratories in and outside of Texas for some time now. It is counterproductive to have the DPS crime laboratories function as the training facility for other crime laboratories. If DPS salaries do not improve for its Forensic Scientists the DPS crime laboratory could evolve into a forensic scientist training academy.
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