Add the right chemicals and semen turns dark blue.
Blood turns purple.
Saliva colors fluid in a vial blue.
While the high-speed results and incontrovertible results of the popular “CSI” series remain more fiction than fact, Maryland State Police moved several steps closer with the opening of its new $30 million Forensic Science Laboratory in Pikesville earlier this year.
“We?ve moved from 28,000 square feet to 68,000 square feet, so it?s more … space,” said Teresa Long, deputy director of the lab.
“We have a classroom so we can train investigators and analysts how to collect and process evidence.”
The lab, accredited by the American Society of Laboratory Directors/Lab Accreditation Board, gleams with new equipment, smooth black resin tabletops and monster monitors that help technicians compare bullet markings at hundreds of times scale.
Built in wings for chemical/biological and physical evidence, Long said the building can be expanded outward on the 12-acre site without interfering with the work going on inside.
The 70 scientists and support staff who work there gave enthusiastic reviews even after hours of public tours Tuesday.
In their old lab, a four-story office building, “we were out of space the day we moved in,” Long said.
“It was so crowded, instruments were in one big room with our lab benches,” said chemist Angela del Pino.
Now each chemist has his or her own spacious lab bench with separate offices and instruments for analyzing the results of work in a separate room.
“It?s all automated, so we don?t have to do calculations by hand. We put the samples in here and we get a printout of the results,” technician Burta Tsimerman said of the blood-alcohol tester.
In addition to moving paperwork off of lab stations throughout the 68,000-square-foot facility, technicians working with DNA have two robotic workstations and an analyzer that can process 96 samples at one time.
“The new facility is great. We?re all in one location so communication is much better,” said forensic scientist Jennifer Cline as she illuminated faint semen stains using alternative light sources and tinted safety glasses.
They expect great gains in efficiency and in processing evidence, though Long said it?s too early to read the tea leaves.
“It just gives us the potential to be what we ought to be,” she said.
Forensic science: The business end
In 2005, the Maryland State Police investigated more than 1,600 crime scene investigations. Authorities also processed evidence for other departments.
» 8,600 cases went to the chemistry unit.
» 800 cases went to toxicology.
» 900 cases went to firearms/toolmark analysts.
» 10,000 offender DNA samples were collected.
» 700 serology or DNA tests were conducted in-house.
Source: Maryland State Police
