MADSION, Wis. -- A criminal justice study group urged that millions of dollars be spent now to send more evidence to private laboratories to address the growing DNA backlog at the state Crime Laboratory.

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Judges, police, lawyers and others who make up the commission said that eliminating the backlog is a matter of community safety.

The Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Commission said that outsourcing is expensive and isn't a long-term solution to the backlog. But the commission said on Thursday that it offers the best chance of processing the hundreds of cases waiting on state crime lab shelves.

The commission also supports Attorney General JB Van Hollen's call to double the number of crime lab analysts. Van Hollen said if 31 new staff members are hired, the backlog could be eliminated by 2010.

But commission members said that is not soon enough and that is why they are pushing for outsourcing.

"This is a human cost we should not be asking people to pay," said Commission Chair Michael G. Malmstadt, a Milwaukee County Children's Court judge.

Malmstadt urged lawmakers to spend more than $10 million to outsource some 2,000 DNA cases and clear the backlog over the next year or so.

"Spend the money and you would find between 300 and 400 criminals in some counties somewhere who are preying upon people right now," Malmstadt said.

Van Hollen also addressed the assembly members on Thursday. He told lawmakers how DNA recently helped identify a suspected rapist who police said was targeting young women on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

"Lest you think we'll take these most significant cases and move them to the top of the stack all of the time, we can't. We don't even have the resources to do that," Van Hollen said.

He explained that 40 percent of the backlog comes from violent crimes.

"People who may very well be out there offending, and we cannot get to their samples to make sure they get tested to try to take them off the streets," Van Hollen said.

The commission said the DNA analysis is costly, about $7,000 a case, and that it takes hard work to get a match.

Earlier this week, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle advocated adding 15 new analysts to the Crime Lab. Neither the Republican attorney general nor members of the Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Commission said they feel that is enough to get the job done.

The commission said in a paper released on Thursday that even if the crime labs get 31 new analysts, hiring and training them will take more than a year. It said that delays in DNA tests will only grow during that period and sending more cases to private labs could reduce the need to hire more analysts.