What you're seeing on those fictional crime shows is having a very real affect. You see it on TV and, when you're called as a juror, demand it in the courtroom.

That has crime labs running ragged. From DNA to drugs, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's crime lab does it all. Lab Director Mike Van Stratton says their services run from toxicology and drug chemistry, to fingerprints and foot impressions.

It's all adding up. Van Stratton has been with the KBI eleven years. When he first came, he says the KBI Forensics Lab had 8,000 to 9,000 cases a year. Now, he says it's 16,000. The number of items of evidence now is as high as 150,000 a year, and those items may require a number of exams on a single item which can triple the time.

Van Stratton says demand for DNA evidence is up more than 40-percent from a year ago. In recent years, he says, firearms testing has gone up 166-percent. Those requests come from more than 400 law enforcement agencies across the state, sometimes through work done at county coroner's offices.

Shawnee County Coroner Dr. Erik Mitchell says his office is getting more requests for its service from the surrounding region. Its caseload has gone up 45-percent since 2003. The number of autopsies is up 20-percent.

Dr. Mitchell says much of the demand simply stems from the fact that the service is available.

"The services can now be used, so they will be used because there are always answers people are looking for," he says.

Both Mitchell and Van Stratton agree shows like CSI have partly driven the increase, making the public more aware of forensics. But they also say it's a simple evolution of the field. Advances in technology, like the national IBIS database to share information about guns and bullets, make it more possible to use the forensic evidence that's gathered.

"It's amazing what's happened with technology," Van Stratton says. "People are much more aware of physical evidence, the presence of physical evidence, and what can be done with it."

The Shawnee County Coroner's office recently added another pathologist to deal with its caseload. But trouble is, most of the rest of the system can't keep up with the demand that the awareness of forensic technology has driven.

Van Stratton says the KBI has a backlog of six to 12 months on DNA cases. He says the goal would be a 30-day turnaround. Other areas are pushing that, too. Van Stratton says toxicology tests are averaging 35 days, drug chemistry tests, 28 days.

Van Stratton says delays have implications. He says, often, law enforcement is sending evidence to the KBI so they can identify a suspect. The sooner you get the suspect off the streets, he says, the safer the streets are for citizens.

From there, it trickles to the courtroom. Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht says juries expect forensic evidence. He says even if eyewitness statements exists, they're no longer enough for CSI-savvy juries. Hecht says the kind of evidence that doesn't lie, that doesn't shade the truth, is scientific evidence.

But they need it sooner, rather than later, which is where a group of Washburn University students comes in. Washburn is one of two schools in the state - Wichita State is the other - offering a degree in forensic chemical science. The first class graduates this spring.

Dr. Stephen Angel of Washburn's Chemistry Department says the demand for forensic evidence puts more demand on labs so they need more people like his students. But he says the program isn't easy. He says it takes a lot of work to learn how to work the equipment, the science behind it and what its limitations are.

Students in the program could go on to careers in crime labs or even go to medical school to become forensic pathologists. Freshman Nick Hill says he'd like to work for the KBI or FBI in ballistics. Junior Elizabeth Farnham has an ultimate goal of working in the FBI crime lab. Both admit to first gaining interest in the field due to the CSI shows. They say they've learned it's not necessarily like it is on TV, but say it's rewarding to be able to solve a problem and know it could have implications in solving a case. Hill also says he's learned not to judge a situation until the evidence is in.

Not everyone in the program plans a career in crime-fighting. Senior Scott Strickland plans to go to dental school! Still, he says his education has him looking at reports of crime differently than he did in the past.

Graduating forensic chemical science degree holders is only part of the battle. Van Stratton says it takes another 18- to 24 months to fully train a forensic scientist once they're on the job. He says there's also the issue of space. He says the current KBI lab doesn't have anywhere to put more people.

Lawmakers are starting to address the space issue. Their recently approved budget includes money for the KBI to begin acquiring property for a new, expanded lab in Topeka.