The court testimony required for all of the above programs. Maintenance, storage, and tracking of the Department's blood alcohol evidence. The Crime Laboratory has always been a leader in using reasonably priced technology to enhance our services, reduce response time, and minimize the personnel required without sacrificing the quality of any given analysis. Now crime labs everywhere employ this technology to increase productivity and reduce backlogs. Mesa was the first crime laboratory in Arizona to employ an automated system for blood alcohol analysis.
Similar systems are now in use in every crime laboratory in the state.
Mesa was the first Department in Arizona to employ a sensitive, scientifically specific method of determining gunshot residue on the hands of possible shooters. Mesa was the first in the state to adopt a complete PCR-DNA analysis program for casework. This technology is the fastest, safest, most sensitive, least expensive and now most specific forensic DNA method available. Mesa was instrumental in the development of a county-wide program in which specially trained officer's and crime scene technician's reports are used to speed the adjudication of cases involving small amounts of marijuana. The help provided included crime scene assistance as well as laboratory analysis of firearms and DNA related evidence.