Northwest Arkansas to get its own Crime Lab in ’19
LOWELL — A new state Crime Laboratory, part of a new state police troop headquarters, will open in Lowell on March 1, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday.
The opening will save hundreds of hours shuttling evidence to the Crime Lab in Little Rock and having experts travel from the capital to testify in court cases in Northwest Arkansas, law enforcement agencies and the Crime Lab director said.
“Forty years ago I was a city attorney in Bentonville who often had to have a state Crime Lab chemist spend all day coming up here to testify in a misdemeanor drug case,” Hutchinson said in Lowell.
In addition, the new lab will help cut the months-
long backlog in laboratory analysis of evidence, the governor said Friday. That will benefit every part of the state, he said.
Space for the $2.6 million laboratory was always part of the state police Troop L headquarters design, Hutchinson said.
Whether the state could afford to equip the 10,000-square-foot laboratory right away, however, was not previously certain, the governor said.
A combination of discretionary funds from the governor, appropriated funds from the Legislature and federal taxpayer money has been successfully arranged to open the project, he said in a news conference at the new headquarters’ construction site Friday morning.
Autopsies will still be done at the state medical examiner’s main headquarters in Little Rock, but blood tests, chemical tests to verify illegal narcotics and other seized evidence, and other close scientific examination of evidence will take place at the new laboratory, said Kermit B. Channell II, state Crime Lab executive director.
Besides startup costs, employing six technicians at the new lab and paying other ongoing costs will require $653,000 a year, according to state estimates.
The facility has received a $900,000 federal grant, and the governor released $2.7 million in reserve funds to pay for laboratory setup costs and to begin hiring a staff. The Legislature has already approved money to pay for the ongoing cost of operating the laboratory.
The state operates a limited laboratory in Hope for testing seized drugs. That’s in addition to the main Crime Lab in Little Rock. Channell and the governor estimated that 36 percent of the evidence tested at Crime Lab facilities comes from Northwest Arkansas.
The new facility will offer other advantages besides cost and travel time savings, said Sgt. Anthony Murphy, public information officer for the Fayetteville Police Department.
A closer working relationship between law enforcement and the lab will mean better coordination and more secure, reliable handling of evidence, he said.
“Sometimes, you need an expert in the field and, with a laboratory so close, that can happen,” Murphy said. “We will also get a chance to know some of these technicians now.”
The laboratory will be certified to handle criminal work the day it opens, Channell said. The certification of the Little Rock laboratory will carry over to the new one, but the new site will be checked frequently, he said.
Having the headquarters in Little Rock and an additional laboratory in Lowell is a real boon for Lowell, Mayor Eldon Long said. It is a standout facility that will raise the town’s profile and be a distinguishing feature, he said.
“This is a landmark for this town, an identity,” Long said. Lowell is home to about 8,922 people.
The new facility is west of Interstate 49’s intersection with Arkansas 264.
Driving to Lowell instead of Little Rock will be of great benefit to law enforcement agencies in west and north regions of the state, said several state representatives who attended Friday’s announcement.
Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, said it will save the Arkansas River Valley region’s law enforcement agencies a great deal of time and trouble.
In separate interviews, Channell and the governor also mentioned the proximity of Lowell to cities such as Harrison and Fort Smith, where state police troop headquarters are located. Officers at those locations plan to use the new Crime Lab also, they said.
Sheriff’s offices, especially small ones that can ill afford to spare a deputy to shuttle evidence on a day-long round trip to Little Rock, will also benefit from the new lab, they said.