Tucson DPS Gets New Crime Lab

Gov. Janet Napolitano announced that the Arizona Dept. of Public Safety (DPS) is the recipient of $17.7 million, to go toward building a new crime lab facility in Tucson. Joining the Governor in the announcement were A.G. Terry Goddard, Az. Senate President Tim Bee of Tucson, DPS Director Roger Vanderpool, Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Richard Fimbres, county sheriffs & state legislators of both parties.

“This is great news for DPS &, more than that, it is desperately needed,” Gov. Napolitano said. “Our Crime Lab is not just a valuable asset for Arizonans, but for the entire country. Its contributions have helped public safety departments from across the nation.”

For almost 20 years Az. DPS has been a pioneer in forensic DNA analysis & is currently 1 of the 3 departments nationwide providing the most cutting-edge DNA techniques for the analysis of crime scene evidence. In addition, Arizona DPS is also responsible for perfecting a DNA procedure for the recovery of DNA from bones when crime labs worldwide are having extremely limited access.

The new facility will allow for 5 to 7 new personnel to work at the Tucson location. These personnel are currently in the Phoenix lab facility due to lack of space in Tucson. They will accommodate the 300% workload increase in Tucson over the last 7 years.

Additionally, the increased space will allow for a 15 to 25% increase in efficiency by eliminating the “bottleneck” that occurs when scientists need to wait in lines to use equipment. The additional space will allow for new DNA testing currently unavailable in Tucson, which will allow DPS Crime Lab to remain at the forefront of DNA testing.

Expected completion of the new Crime Lab is January 2009.