FFY2024 - COVERDELL - State of Tennessee

In addition to providing a higher quality of forensic science services provided to the State of Tennessee, the new instrumentation and software requests by TBI will increase the lab’s ability to process cases more efficiently as they will increase TBI’s capabilities, require less analysis time, and require less examiner time for troubleshooting.  Due to the increased efficiency provided with this new instrumentation and software, an increase in case throughput will naturally occur thus allowing the examiners additional time to examine and reduce the backlogged cases. Utilization of inferior instrumentation for case work can not only jeopardize the results of the case but can also jeopardize the laboratories accreditation and any pending prosecution.
Another problem is easing the administrative burden on the state medicolegal death investigators, as well as improving the tools available to the county medical examiners, the OSCME will distribute sixty (60) gear bags to county medical examiners/investigators across the state approximately twenty (20) per grand division.

Purchases of a Nitrogen Genator (PARKER N2-240) update, Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer with Auto Sampler Towers, Scientific Certifications, Sterimicroscopes and cameras, and upgrade operating system of Zeiss EVO10 for Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. 

County medical examiners and medicolegal death investigators need robust scene bags containing equipment that the counties don't otherwise provide but need to meet guidelines for death investigation as set forth in the National Institutes of Justice publication "Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator.”

The outcome would be to reduce the backlog work at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, along with reducing administrative burden to the county medical examiners.