1. The Organization of a Crime Lab What is the name of the system operating in Alabama?

2. Affiliations Police Department District Attorney’s Office Medical Examiner or Coroner Universities

3. Why has there been such an increase in the number of labs in the last 40 years? Supreme court decisions in the 1960’s placed a greater emphasis on securing scientifically evaluated evidence. (Confessions are no longer a routine investigating tool.) Increasing crime rate (However, except for drug cases, only a small percentage of police investigations require scientific investigation of evidence.) Uncontrollable drug use – each case requires confirmatory analysis Advent of DNA Profiling

4. Major Federal Crime Labs FBI (Department of Justice) Drug Enforcement Administration Laboratories- regulate the production, sale and transportation of drugs Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives U.S. Postal Inspection Service

5. Crime Lab Services Full-Service Labs Physical Science Unit –analysis of drugs, soil, trace evidence

6. . Biology Unit- DNA profiling, comparison of hair and fibers and botanical materials.

7. Full-Service Lab Firearms Unit-examination of firearms, ammunition, tools Document Examination Unit Photography Unit Optional Services: Toxicology (body fluids and organs examined for traces of drugs and/or poison), Latent Fingerprint, Polygraph, Voiceprint Analysis Unit, Evidence Collection Unit