Are Illegal Drug Manufacturing Investigations Expensive

My question involves criminal law for the state of: MI

I have a friend who just got charged with operating a meth lab in a university. The investigation involved 5 different agencies; a search warrant of his lab space, his apartment, and his vehicle; forensic analysis of his laptop, all the scraping and GCMS testing associated with testing for drug manufacturing, analysis of his use of building pass card, drug dogs, and possible undercover surveillance.

I've heard drug investigations were expensive, does any one have any sort of idea how much the above sort of investigation would have cost including prosecution? I've always been told drug manufacturing can be the most expensive investigations, and I wondered why exactly that was.

The cost of any given investigation will vary. You can see what police budgeting information is available through the relevant units of government.

You sure do have a lot of friends getting in trouble with the law.

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Quoting Question4law

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: MI

I have a friend who just got charged with operating a meth lab in a university. The investigation involved 5 different agencies; a search warrant of his lab space, his apartment, and his vehicle; forensic analysis of his laptop, all the scraping and GCMS testing associated with testing for drug manufacturing, analysis of his use of building pass card, drug dogs, and possible undercover surveillance.

I've heard drug investigations were expensive, does any one have any sort of idea how much the above sort of investigation would have cost including prosecution? I've always been told drug manufacturing can be the most expensive investigations, and I wondered why exactly that was.

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Is this a real story of a friend or another hypothetical story for you to research?

The last story wasn't hypothetical. The points I kept coming up with were termed as hypothetical by the volunteers because they were hearsay.

This is an actual story. It actually happened to the same friend as before.

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Quoting Question4law

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The last story wasn't hypothetical. The points I kept coming up with were termed as hypothetical by the volunteers because they were hearsay.

This is an actual story. It actually happened to the same friend as before.

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So this is the same friend who is also facing kidnapping charges over the suicide incident with the girlfriend?

Somebody needs to find some new friends ...

Yes sir, while she was in the psych ER, she told interviewing detectives the reason he came home late every night was because he was operating a drug lab in his University space. He denies it and says she's setting him up because he told her once he works with chemicals very similar to those used to make meth. He was found with a few Adderal pills he was using to study for a big exam, however.

When you say expensive, it's not as if someone decides to dedicate a certain amount of dollars to each and every investigation that takes place.

Every government agency has a budget that is supposed to last them for each fiscal year and they must be careful to remain within that budget. Probably 75 to 80% of that budget pays for personnel and the rest for operational costs such as facilities, equipment, vehicles, supplies, etc.

Crimes are investigated as they occur. Obviously, there are more crimes that agencies are budgeted to handle, so each law enforcement agency usually has policies determining how the handling of crimes are prioritized depending on their severity and level of threat to the community. (An assault with a deadly weapon will get a lot of attention while a $50 theft with no suspects or leads will probably just get a report for the insurance company with no further action.) Unless someone asks for an audit of how many personnel hours are expended on a particular case (an expensive task in itself) it is rare for someone to track the cost of an investigation.

OP you really need to stop undermining your friend's defense like this.

True point. I guess nothing is truly anonymous on the Internet.