Federal grant benefits county's forensics lab
By Jill King Greenwood
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
October 29, 2006
Allegheny County will use federal money to buy equipment for its forensic lab that should help reduce a backlog of drug cases by providing new ways to analyze evidence, an official said.
Chuck Kritko, deputy director for the forensic lab division of the Medical Examiner's Office, said the $125,000 grant will purchase forensic microscopes with digital cameras, equipment to analyze bomb materials and explosive residue recovered from methamphetamine labs, and an instrument that can identify illicit drugs even if they are encased in plastic bags.
"We need the money, and we certainly will use it," Kritko said. "We have a backlog of 1,600 drug cases right now, and the equipment we will get with this money will allow us to turn the cases quicker."
The lab's 50 employees handle evidence from 120 municipal police departments, Kritko said. Allegheny County's lab was one of five in the state that received the money from the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Science Improvement Act. The state police also received $125,000; Berks County got $61,200; Lehigh County received $39,642 and $41,000 went to York County.
Kritko said he also plans to purchase computers and scanners to improve barcode labeling for evidence and set aside some money to fund continuing education and training for lab employees.
Some lab pathologists, chemists and other employees took part in a three-day training conference last week at the Sheraton Station Square, where law-enforcement officers, students and assistant district attorneys studied fingerprint processing techniques, evidence collection, bloodstain pattern analysis and DNA.
Pittsburgh police mobile crime unit detectives Dave Bush and Russell Cain showed how to dust for fingerprints on mirrors, aluminum cans, light bulbs, license plates and credit cards.
"They learned which techniques work best on certain surfaces so you get the best fingerprint," Bush said.
The International Association of Identification Forensic Science and Law Seminar hadn't been held in Pittsburgh since 1989, said Pittsburgh police Lt. Scott Schubert.
Kritko said the annual conference is the perfect example of the type of training lab the grant will provide for employees.
"Technology keeps changing and improving and new methods of doing things arise and it's important that we stay on top of that," he said.
Jill King Greenwood can be reached at jgreenwood@tribweb.com or 412-321-2160.