Project Overview
Add two new sworn staff and three new civilian staff to increase our capability and capacity to respond to, and process, crimes scenes and evidence in the lab. We will add one crime lab evidence coordinator to manage the flow of evidence and information between our lab staff, officers, the MN BCA Lab, and the prosecutors. We will use grant funds to hire a digital evidence coordinator to oversee our conversion to digital photography (most equipment purchased – not deployed yet), our in car camera and license plate recognition systems, and to speed up processing of digital video/photo evidence which has gone from “0” cases in 2003 to “496” in 2008. We will use grant funds to fund two DNA analysts at the MN BCA Crime Lab to speed up processing of our department’s DNA evidence (particularly gun DNA cases) and expand the types of evidence we can examine for DNA. We will use some grant funds to replace our outdated primary lab vehicle, replace some failing equipment, upgrade some equipment, and add new equipment to increase our capabilities to identify suspects and solve crimes. GRANT NAME: BJA FY 09 Recovery Act Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program: Enhancing Forensic and Crime Scene Investigations GRANT NUMBER: 2009-G4857-MN-SU TITLE: 2009 SPPD Crime Lab Capability and Capacity Expansion and Enhancement Project GRANT REQUEST: $1,677,200 EMPLOYEES HIRED/RETAINED: 1 officer, 1 sergeant, 7 civilian LENGTH OF GRANT: 2 years Contact: Amy Brown, 266-5507 or
amy.brown@ci.stpaul.mn.us