Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul promised to fix the state crime lab. He hasn’t. It’s gotten worse. That’s by his own numbers, released Dec. 9. His opponent, DA Eric Toney, calls it a “significant broken promise.”
Cases accepted by the Wisconsin Crime Lab have taken a major nosedive under Attorney General Josh Kaul. Yet, Kaul’s crime labs are taking longer to process key evidence submitted by police agencies, including DNA, despite taking in FAR fewer cases.
The drop in cases is stunning. Schimel’s crime lab, by measurement after measurement, was more effective in a host of areas while processing more cases. Far more cases. In 2017, Schimel’s crime labs took in 15,795 cases, while Kaul’s handled 8,965 in 2024. In fact, in 2024, Kaul’s crime lab handled the fewest cases of his tenure.
There’s no way to read that except it’s a failure.
The state crime lab is critical to improving public safety in Wisconsin. The evidence is needed by police to solve cases and prosecutors to bring them to justice. Yet, year after year, Kaul has allowed the crime lab to languish, posting worse delays while taking in far fewer cases than the Republican he defeated, Brad Schimel, despite getting extra positions and a new firing range, which reduced travel times for analysts.
Kaul has rolled out a series of excuses that no longer make sense; he complained about COVID and now complains that he didn’t get even more positions. Instead of fixing the crime lab, Kaul has focused on launching partisan lawsuits and flirting with a run for governor (withdrawn after tepid support).
Simply put, Kaul’s crime lab posted longer delays in 2024 than his Republican predecessor Brad Schimel did in Schimel’s final year in the areas of DNA, DNA databank, controlled substances, toxicology, trace evidence, and forensic imaging. And that’s based on Kaul’s own annual report, which he released late in December 2025.
- When compared to himself and last year, Kaul’s crime lab posted longer delays in 2024 in the areas of DNA, DNA databank, toxicology, footwear, forensic imagery, and firearms. The delays in DNA testing are especially dangerous, as those cases involve homicides and rapes.
- Sexual assaults accounted for 24% of the DNA tests. Kaul defeated Schimel to become AG by hammering him with a rape kit hoax. Kaul, of anyone, should know how important DNA testing is in sexual assault cases. A delay in testing under his late mother AG Peg Lautenschlager led to a man remaining on the street who was then involved in the murder of a state drug agent.
- Contrast: In 2020, Kaul promised: “We’re getting closer to catching up. It’s not like flipping a switch. The 2020 and 2021 numbers is where we’ll really see the impact (of changes).” But that never happened. He said that new hires were up to speed, the labs added more automation, and evidence submission guidelines were clarified, according to the Wisconsin State Journal that year. He promised to dramatically improve turnaround times by 2023 as a result. He failed.
- Kaul made this promise the central plank of his campaign. He “attacked Schimel on the campaign trail for being too slow to complete crime lab tests and delaying justice for victims,” the State Journal reported in 2020.
There were a couple sort-of bright spots in 2024 for Kaul amid the mismanagement. Latent prints, footwear, and firearms were processed more quickly than Schimel. However, this supposed success is neutralized by the fact that Schimel took in more cases in all of those areas, too.
Fond du Lac County DA Eric Toney, a Republican, is running against Kaul. Toney, the former president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association and Wisconsin’s DA of the year in 2024, has hammered Kaul on the crime lab mismanagement. Toney has promised to get the crime labs in better shape to meet public safety needs.
“This is the most significant broken promise of his tenure as Attorney General,” Toney’s campaign said.
Kaul, the Democrat attorney general, finally released his 2024 crime lab report in December. The Division of Forensic Science employs 190 people, according to the report.
A Legislative Audit Bureau report in 2024 outlined a series of deficiencies in Kaul’s crime labs. “DOJ should take additional actions to improve the timeliness of its crime laboratories in analyzing evidence. DOJ should improve productivity standards for crime laboratory analysts, improve how its crime laboratories centrally record information, and improve its annual reports on the crime laboratories,” the report says.
Kaul’s main argument in defense of the poor numbers is that he needs more staff. However, the non-partisan auditors found: “The overall amount appropriated to DOJ for the crime laboratories increased from the 2019-2021 biennium through the 2023-2025 biennium. DOJ was authorized an additional 10.4 FTE permanent positions for the crime laboratories from the 2019-2021 biennium through the 2023-2025 biennium.”
OVERALL CASES ACCEPTED – WAY Down under Kaul since 2016
SCHIMEL
2016: 13029
2017: 15795
2018: 12680
KAUL
2019: 10613
2020: 8985
2021: 9297
2022: 9297
2023: 9386
2024: 8965
DNA CASEWORK:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE
The numbers represent “mean turnaround time”
Schimel final year (2018): 80 (8626 cases)
2021: 128
2022: 84
2023: 108 (4439 cases)
2024: 129 (4124 cases)
DNA DATABANK:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE
The numbers represent “mean turnaround time”
Schimel final year (2018): 29 (29,900 cases)
2021: 44
2022: 26
2023: 41 (24547 cases)
2024: 49 (22818)
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS DECREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE (slightly fewer cases were handled)
Schimel last year (2018): 43 (5283 cases)
2021: 61
2022: 84
2023: 110 (4561)
2024: 90 (4529)
TOXICOLOGY:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE
2018: Schimel last year 37 (3897 cases)
2021: 48
2022: 84
2023: 64 (3042)
2024: 82 (2063)
TRACE EVIDENCE:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS DECREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE (slightly fewer cases taken)
2018: Schimel Final Year 71 (126)
2021: 85
2022: 79
2023: 202 (88 cases)
2024: 146 (69)
LATENT PRINTS:
DELAYS DECREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS DECREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE (fewer cases taken than Schimel and the year before)
2018: Schimel final year 224 (1304)
2021: 71
2022: 68
2023: 66 (775 cases handled)
2024: 52 (696)
FOOTWEAR
DELAYS DECREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE
2018: Schimel final year 263 (19 cases handled)
2021: 136
2022: 59
2023: 71 (30 cases handled)
2024: 99 (35 cases handled)
FORENSIC IMAGING:
DELAYS INCREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE
2018: Schimel final year 62 (total cases 62)
2021: 70
2022: 83
2023: 79 (total cases 74)
2024: 88 (total cases 78)
TOOLMARKS:
LISTED AS NA
2018: Schimel final year 0 (25 cases)
2021: 38
2022: 5
2023: 0 (5 cases)
2024: N/A (20 cases)
FIREARMS:
DELAYS DECREASED SINCE SCHIMEL
DELAYS INCREASED COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE (took fewer cases than Schimel and the year before)
2018: Schimel final year 209 (446)
2021: 157
2022: 167
2023: 177 (499 cases)
2024: 193 (429 cases)
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