New Crime Lab Could Help Investigators Solve Crimes Faster
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4)- There's a new tool that's helping investigators in Jefferson County-- a new crime lab. It could help them solve crimes faster.
The new regional crime lab is more than six times larger than the previous lab and will help police in several communities including Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada and Golden.
"The lab that we came from was roughly 2,500 square feet. This lab is now 16,500 square feet," said Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Division Chief for Special Projects Jeff Shrader.
When Jeffco decided to modernize their old crime lab, they invited other agencies to combine resources.
With the new exam rooms and new equipment, those agencies are taking away some of the burden from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, especially in the field of DNA.
"We anticipate we'll be cutting some of those time frames in half," said Shrader. "We'll also be able to set the priorities for the kinds of cases that will be done here and the levels of DNA analysis, the number of items per case that you can do."
Having those resources will be especially helpful with cold cases.
"There may be things discovered in those cases if we're able to reanalyze some of that DNA evidence," said Shrader.
The crime lab could expand as more demand is needed.
"We can grow in staff to about 22 employees and operate comfortably in this lab and I think that's going to be serving Jefferson County for years to come," said Shrader.