Council OKs Funds for Police DNA Lab
The Police Department is moving toward becoming one of the few municipal agencies in the county to have its own DNA-analysis laboratory.
City Council members this week unanimously approved a $145,000 contract to build an extension to the department’s criminal analysis lab.
The DNA lab will be isolated and free from contamination, department officials said.
The building addition will be crucial to winning a $150,000 grant from a statewide consortium of crime laboratories that would pay for DNA training and equipment, Capt. Bill Mamelli said.
And DNA analysis is quickly becoming crucial to criminal analysis, he added, replacing the use of standard blood typing to identify or eliminate suspects.
“DNA is the future in biological examinations of this kind,” Mamelli said. “It is becoming the standard of the industry. It will be much quicker and much more certain.”
The department expects to win the DNA grant with little problem and have the lab completed by early next year.
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