Deployable Labs

• NCJ Number: 230003
• Date Published: August 2010
• Length: 3 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-MU-CX-K077
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Award: Operation of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)

Annotation

This paper describes the successful deployment of mobile forensic labs in the States of Iowa and Michigan.

Abstract

Following the observation of the United States Navy's Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell (CEXC); a mobile laboratory for improvised explosives devices analysis activities, the director of the Forensic Technologies Center of Excellence (CoE) and the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) saw potential for using these deployable forensic labs whenever needed. The deployable labs are describes as shipping containers that fold out. They are self-contained labs. This paper describes how these deployable forensic labs, once made available, were put to the test in Cedar Rapids, IA following the massive floods in 2008. Cedar Rapids used the deployable unit for slightly more than a year before returning to its new facilities. In Michigan, the Michigan State Police have utilized two deployable labs, however not due to a natural disaster, but to budget cuts.