New State Police crime lab gets green light in Lowell

$2.6 million lab will open with state police headquarters

Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks Friday at the location of the new Arkansas State Police headquarters in Lowell. Hutchinson announced plans for a state crime lab there.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks Friday at the location of the new Arkansas State Police headquarters in Lowell. Hutchinson announced plans for a state crime lab there.

LOWELL -- A state crime laboratory will open along with the new state police troop headquarters in Lowell on March 1, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday.

The opening will save hundreds of man-hours in travel time shuttling both evidence to the laboratory in Little Rock and experts from there to testify in court cases here, law enforcement agencies and the state crime laboratory director said.

In addition, the new lab will cut the months-long backlog in laboratory analysis of evidence, the governor said in his remarks Friday. That will benefit every part of the state, he said.

Space for the $2.6 million laboratory was always part of the Troop L headquarters design. Whether the state could afford equipping the 10,000-square-foot laboratory facility right away, however, wasn't certain before, the governor said. A combination of discretionary money from the governor, appropriated money from the Legislature and federal taxpayer money has been successfully arranged, he said in a news conference at the headquarters' construction site Friday morning.

"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.

Autopsies will still take place at the state medical examiner's office in Little Rock, but blood tests, chemical tests to verify illegal narcotics and other seized evidence, along with other close, scientific examination of evidence will be at the new laboratory, said Kermit Channell, state crime laboratory director.

Besides start-up costs, staffing with six technicians at the new lab and 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 money under his control to pay for set-up of the laboratory and to begin hiring staff. The Legislature has already approved the ongoing cost of operating the laboratory.

The state operates a limited laboratory for testing seized drugs in Hope and has its main laboratory in Little Rock. Channel and the governor estimate that 36 percent of the evidence tested at crime lab facilities comes from Northwest Arkansas, they said Friday.

There are other advantages besides cost and travel time savings, said Sgt. Anthony Murphy, public information officer for the Fayetteville Police Department.

"I think it's great," Murphy said of the laboratory plans. "Sometimes, you need an expert in the field and with a laboratory so close, that can happen. We will also get a chance to know some of these technicians now."

A closer working relationship will mean better coordination and more secure, reliable handling of evidence, he said.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Gov. Asa Hutchinson (right) on Friday tours the space where a new state Crime Laboratory will be installed next year at the new Arkansas State Police Troop L headquarters in Lowell.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Kermit Channell , the state Crime Lab executive director, said Friday in Lowell that an estimated 36 percent of the evidence tested at Crime Lab facilities comes from Northwest Arkansas.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas State Police Sgt. Marty Pollock (left) and Lowell Mayor Eldon Long look at a picture Friday of the new State Police headquarters at its location in Lowell.

"There is nothing bad about this," Murphy said.

The laboratory will be certified for criminal work the day it opens, Channell said. The certification of the Little Rock laboratory will carry over to this one but the new site will be frequently checked, he said.

Having the headquarters and now this additional laboratory in Lowell is a real boon to his city, Mayor Eldon Long. "This is a landmark for this town, an identity," Long said. It's a standout facility that will raise the town's profile and be a distinguishing feature, he said.

The new headquarters is west of Interstate 49's intersection with West Monroe Avenue.

Driving to Lowell instead of Little Rock will be of great benefit to law enforcement agencies far outside of Washington and Benton counties, said several of the state representatives who attended Friday's event. Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, attended Friday's event and said this would save the Arkansas River valley region's law enforcement agencies a great deal of time and trouble.

Both Channell and the governor also brought up the expected time savings for law enforcement agencies besides those in the immediate vicinity of Lowell. The Harrison and Fort Smith troop headquarters of the state police are expected to use the new facility also, they said. Smaller sheriff's offices that can ill afford to spare a deputy to shuttle evidence by a daylong round trip to Little Rock will also be greatly relieved, they said.

NW News on 07/28/2018

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