It’s not quite CSI, but within the new year or so, there will be a new OPP forensic identification lab here.
With a Nov. 5 groundbreaking, construction is now underway on a new OPP unit in Mount Forest, Perth-Wellington MPP John Wilkinson said.
“The new OPP Forensic Identification Unit will support the work of police officers in keeping Ontario communities safe,” he added. “While generating jobs and business activity for the Mount Forest area, the new construction project will help boost our local rural economy.”
The state-of-the-art facility will provide the local OPP with advanced tools to analyze evidence, solve crimes and keep communities safe, including:
– a lab area with three biohazard suites;
– a chemical room, photo studio, multi-media room and evidence examination room;
– a boardroom for training and meetings; and
– a filing room equipped with a high-density storage system designed to store fingerprints.
The new forensic unit is scheduled for completion by spring 2012, and is part of the Open Ontario Plan to create jobs and to boost the local economy.
OPP Forensic Identification Services are responsible for collecting physical evidence at crime scenes. The Mount Forest OPP facility is one of 18 new detachments, regional headquarters and forensic identification units being constructed in 16 communities across Ontario.
Shield Infrastructure Partnership has been contracted to design, build, finance and maintain the new facilities for a 30-year period. The new facility will be built to meet the Canada Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Standards, incorporating environmentally sustainable construction practices and energy efficient design.
Regional manager of forensic identification services Peter Luciani explained the “forensics building being constructed will replace the outdated facilities in Mount Forest and bring them into the modern age.”
The forensics lab will be in a stand-alone building behind the current Wellington County OPP’s Mount Forest detachment building.
“This building will bring us into a position where we can meet the divisional needs as well as meet health and safety things that are currently lacking in some areas,” Luciani said.
He explained the lab in Mount Forest will serve a five-county area, including Perth, Wellington, Huron, Grey and Bruce.
“But this will give us an enhanced ability to provide service to this area,” he said.
“It’s not exactly the same as CSI, but we are responsible for all crime scene exhibit management. Our members do go to crime scenes and gather evidence. We are primarily responsible for fingerprint analysis.”
He added officers also conduct collection of exhibits.
When asked if there would be additional jobs on site, Luciani said much of this is setting up for the future, although there may be a couple of additional support people on site.
Wilkinson said police services across the province, particularly the OPP, have a difficult job.
When someone is arrested they gather evidence, and it is that evidence, submitted to court, which proves whether a person is innocent or guilty, he explained.
“It is really important that we give our police forces and the Ontario Provincial Police the most modern, up-to-date equipment to do their jobs. That is what we count on them to do.”
He said the investment in new modern technology, “will support our officers and [ensure] they are in modern facilities which can take advantage of those technologies and the ones still being discovered every day.
“It is very important to our justice system that the retrieval, documentation and presentation of evidence is kept to the highest of standards.”
He added, “It’s wonderful that our police officers here are going to be given brand new, 21st century tools to do that job. In turn, that protects the public.”
Wilkinson said this is something police forces have been wanting for a long time.
Mount Forest OPP Forensic Identification Unit Sergeant Trevor McLeod is the unit commander currently based in the Mount Forest detachment building of the Wellington County OPP.
He said “forensic identification done here is similar to what you see on television, although not as dramatic.”
“We do fingerprinting, crime scene photography, go to crime scenes – basically anything to do with the physical evidence at the crime scenes. Some of it we analyze here, such as the fingerprints, footwear and tire tracks. Some of the evidence is packaged and sent to the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto.
“We’re kind of like the first point of contact for the physical evidence at the crime scene. Then we prepare it for presentation in court. The new building will bring us up to the modern-day standards.”
He said “judiciary things have been changing and there is a higher expectation as a result.”
McLeod said the new building will provide additional systems to prevent cross-contamination of materials.
The new building will have three bio-suites with health and safety negative air pressure.
“Any biohazard will be controlled and maintained better than with what we have right now.”
He noted the new unit will also include a training room, where local scene-of-crime officers can do training. He estimated the current facilities were built in the 1950s or 1960s and, “We’ve outgrown it.”
He believed overall staffing will remain roughly the same, though there might be additional support staff.
Following the presentation, Luciani took Wilkinson on a brief tour of the existing facilities in Mount Forest.
Luciani said the new facilities storage area will meet archival standards.
Wilkinson quipped, “I know it’s different than on television where everything happens in five minutes.”
“Definitely,” said Luciani. “In the new building we’ll have a chemical lab like this, only much larger, and with additional equipment and capacity.”
