2016 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant for the State of North Carolina

The North Carolina State Crime Laboratory consists of the main facility in Raleigh and two regional laboratories, one in Greensboro and one in Asheville. This Crime Lab system serves a state covering 53,819 square miles, with a population of approximately 10 million. The State Crime Laboratory has identified areas where the quality and/or timeliness of forensic services could be improved.

The Western Regional Laboratory has four FTIR systems, all of significant age. The systems have been in service for ten years or more. The Western Lab has experienced significant problems with several of the systems, resulting in costly repairs. Replacement of these systems is imperative to maintain workflow and to allow for cross-lab reviews of data. The Laboratory would use Coverdell funding to purchase four FT-IR systems.

The Triad Regional Laboratory currently uses two GC/MSD systems for the analysis of controlled and uncontrolled substances. The systems are requiring more frequent service calls related to major part failure, sensitivity issues, etc. The lack of stability and reliability is affecting productivity by decreasing the Laboratory’s turn-around time for analysis. The computer systems and software versions required to run the instruments are out-of-date and no longer supported. The current instruments are interfaced with older computers and software that operate under Windows XP operating system and cannot be modified to interface with Windows 7 or higher operating system. The Laboratory would use Coverdell funding to purchase a new GC/MSD system.

nca/ncf