Shreveport Gets New High-Tech Crime Lab
Earlier today, the North Louisiana Forensic Sciences Center held it's grand opening. This state-of-the-art facility will speed up the process of getting answers to investigators. With the ability to conduct autopsies, forensic toxicology tests, and enough high tech equipment to make Batman jealous - the fact finding scientists that work there will be able to help police get criminals off of the street much faster.
According to KALB, the 94,000 square foot cathedral of crime fighting serves 29 parishes, and will work with satellite offices in Alexandria and West Monroe. The facility will feature a morgue that can house up to 100 bodies, but the science superheroes that work there will focus on more than homicides. The center will also be a life line to investigators working on sexual assault, burglary, drug, and arson cases as well - providing essential, possibly case-breaking clues with in a very short time frame. The facility will also be home to a toxicology lab and a sound-proof gun range for ballistics testing.
Perhaps the greatest enhancement to law-enforcement that the NFLSC will provide is a quantum leap in communication. By housing all of these investigative services together in one building, officials will be able to avoid the lengthy waits that were standard when waiting for agencies (sometimes hundreds of miles apart) to sync up and cooperate with each other logistically.
Personally, it's the intelligent way the technology is being used that I like the best. Anybody can buy a High-resolution Mass Spectrometer, but it takes smarts to realize that installing a video conferencing room for your experts to tele-testify in courtrooms all around North Louisiana will put criminals behind bars faster than ever before - and save a ton of money by keeping the guys and girls in lab coats in the lab.