Crime laboratories are facilities that offer various services and serve different jurisdictions, and certain forensic analyses and examinations are conducted in these specialized facilities. Crime laboratories are vital in criminal investigations; they aid in collecting, storing, processing, and analyzing evidence obtained in crime scenes. The results of analysis by experts help prove the innocence or guilt of suspects. Typical crime laboratories are normally associated with law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, or coroners at all levels. Often, crime laboratories rely heavily on the public for funding. Other crime laboratories are privately owned and sponsored and offer specialized services at a fee. This paper discusses the different types of crime laboratories and how they exist on the national, state, and local levels in the US.
There are different types of crime laboratories at different levels. The first type of crime laboratories is the city laboratory. City labs provide services to the local police department that they are affiliated with. Typically, only the affiliated law enforcement agency submits their cases to the city laboratory along with the district attorneys. A city lab can be a full-service laboratory that provides all sorts of services, from physical matching, ballistic, chemical, blood spatter analysis and other related services. A city lab could also provide a handful of services, such as physical matching, fingerprint matching, digital forensics, among other related services. Cases that require technical expertise, such as DNA analysis and forensic investigation, are often sent to specialized facilities for further testing. An example of city labs is the New York City Police Department Police Laboratory. This crime lab serves the New York City Police Department. This lab provides analyses of biological evidence, toxicology services, and other crime scene based evidence (New York City: Laboratories). Other advanced cases are forwarded to other laboratories.
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Another type of crime lab is the county labs. A county crime laboratory provides services to all county police departments if they do not have their laboratories or want specialized services. The lab also receives cases outside the city but still within the county. Normally, the county labs are connected to the sheriff's department. The county labs offer services like physical identification, fingerprint matching, ballistics analysis, and other related services. Moreover, county crime labs provide forensic support to city labs and police department laboratories. These laboratories are well equipped; some are full-service labs with federal and international accreditation. An example of county crime labs is the Orange County Crime Lab. The OC County Lab provides services to all public agencies in Orange County. Some services provided by the OC County Lab are suspect recognition, collection, and evaluation of evidence from crime scenes (Crime Lab: Orange County, n.d.) . The lab is full-service and is internationally and nationally recognized.
Also, there are regional crime labs. A regional crime laboratory often covers a particular region of a given state. It often covers multiple counties and serves all law enforcement agencies within the specific area. Regional crime laboratories have more specialized facilities and highly skilled experts. Regional labs provide support to police departments and county labs. More services are provided at the regional labs due to the availability of necessary forensic investigation resources and expertise. Most regional labs are full-service, while some labs lack some services. Full-service labs provide various services ranging from physical identification, ballistics, DNA analysis, blood spatter, forensic engineering, criminal profiling, analysis of forensic data and documents, and other related services. An example of a regional lab is the Northern Colorado Regional Crime Lab. This lab offers services to counties within and police departments within the state. The lab provides services like collecting, storing, and analyzing evidence (Department of Justice, n.d.). It is a full-service regional lab equipped to offer services like blood spatter analysis, DNA testing, geographic profiling, and chemical analysis, among other services.
There are also state-level laboratories. A state laboratory provides services to all agencies within the state that lack their laboratories. Additionally, state crime labs offer support services to other agencies whose labs are not well equipped to handle some cases, such as forensic analysis. Often, many states have a single lab in the entire state or might have numerous labs. Although state labs provide a variety of services and are well equipped, some are not full-service labs. State labs are accredited by the Laboratories Accreditation Board. Additionally, state crime labs are operated by highly skilled forensic professionals, such as forensic scientists, ballistic experts, computer forensics experts, and others.
An example of a multi-state crime lab is the Washington State Patrol; it has about seven regional labs that serve the entire Washington State. It has branches in Seattle, Vancouver, Olympia, Kennewick, Spokane, Tacoma, and Marysville. These labs do not provide similar services. Each department provides specialized services based on the region it operates in. Another state lab is the North Carolina State Crime Lab, which is a full-service laboratory that serves the entire state of North Carolina. The lab provides consultation services in collecting, utilizing, and storing evidence, evidence analysis, and assistance to various agencies in the state (State Crime Lab, 2020) . The lab is internationally accredited and is instrumental in aiding criminal investigations in North Carolina.
There are also federal crime laboratories. These labs aids in criminal investigation and serve the local and federal agencies. These laboratories are full-service and are highly equipped with modern forensic investigation technology. Federal crime labs help law enforcement agencies to investigate and enforce laws beyond the state and local jurisdictions. An example of federal crime labs is the Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory. The FBI Crime Lab is the most advanced in the world (Law Library, n.d.). It provides scientific evidence evaluation for law enforcement agencies and cooperates with international sharing of information regarding crimes. The lab has 25 departments with two branches that specialize in Forensic Analysis and Operational Support (Laboratory Services: FBI, n.d.) . The services provided by these labs include forensic analysis, DNA, ballistics, trace evidence, explosives analysis, and a wide array of specialized services.
Besides the crime labs stated above, there are also research and private specialty labs. Research labs focus on studying new and exciting scientific methods of evidence collection, storage, and analysis in forensic science, such as forensic phenotyping. The research done in these labs is essential in aiding criminal investigations. These research labs are government-owned and support the federal, state, regional, and local crime labs with specialized evidence analysis. An example of a research lab is the Oglebay Hall Laboratory. Also, there are private labs that offer specialized services. These labs are equipped with modern forensic investigation techniques and experts. They assist law enforcement agencies in analyzing crime data at a fee. All of these labs are essential in reducing crime in the USA. An example of a private crime lab is the National Forensic Support Laboratory, which will provide specialized forensics services to any entity.
Conclusively, this paper aimed to discuss the types of crime labs in the US from the local to the national level. According to the research conducted, various types of crime labs play a critical role in criminal investigations by helping law enforcement agencies collect, store, and analyze evidence. Local-level crime labs serve the local police departments while the state labs serve the counties and support the local law enforcement agencies in the state. Federal/national crime labs serve the local, regional, and national law enforcement agencies. These crime labs are instrumental in fighting crime and enforcing law in the country.
References
Orange County Sheriff’s Department. (n.d.). Orange County
Crime Lab . https://www.ocsd.org/divisions/fieldops/crimelab/
Department of Justice. (n.d.). Northern Colorado Regional Forensic Laboratory. https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/awards/2009-d1-bx-0263
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Laboratory Services. https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory
Law Library-American Law and Legal Information. (n.d.). Crime Laboratories: FBI Crime Laboratory. https://law.jrank.org/pages/12032/Crime-Laboratories-FBI-crime-laboratory.html
New York City. (n.d.). Laboratories . https://www1.nyc.gov/site/ocme/services/laboratories.page
North Carolina Department of Justice. (2020). State Crime Lab. https://ncdoj.gov/crime-lab/
