Monroe County crime lab receives funding

Monroe County's Regional Crime Laboratory which services all criminal justice agencies (federal, state and local) agencies throughout Monroe and eight surrounding counties of Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, Yates and Orleans, received senate funding, according to Senator Hillary Clinton's office.

"DNA evidence provides law enforcement with a valuable tool for gathering crucial information about perpetrators and is essential in catching and prosecuting criminals. All too often however, even when victims come forward and DNA evidence is gathered, the resources aren't there to analyze the evidence that could lead to the conviction of the criminal. As a society, we simply cannot tolerate this. I am very pleased that the Senate Appropriators are supporting the development of a new Crime Lab in Monroe County. This is about catching criminals and saving lives," Clinton said.

The funds, when determined, will be used to add modules of the new state-of-the art crime lab. The crime lab would have additional equipment and qualified staff to more effectively and timely process DNA evidence and support the criminal justice process through the national Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS). The funds will assist Monroe County to meet the objectives of the Debbie Smith Act and reduce all DNA Analysis backlog to less than 30 days and remain current. The only other alternative is the New York State Police Crime lab which is well over capacity. The New Crime Lab will have additional interfaces with local educational institutions and those educational relationships will allow for training and education of students as well as law enforcement professionals including technical opportunities.

July 16, 2006