December 1, 2006
Valdosta - Law Enforcement officers in Valdosta and Lowndes County are creating one more way to help bring criminals to justice more quickly.
"The county has a lot of crime scene equipment, they are really operating a mini crime lab and so are we. We just decided it would make sense for us to consolidate into a city/county crime lab," says Capt. Brian Childress of the Valdosta Police.
So they've purchased this building on North Ashley Street and with the help of city council and county commissioners, hope to have it renovated soon.
But a new crime lab is not a cheap endeavor. "What we're looking for is some additional funding. The county has equipment, we have equipment we're going to put into the crime lab and there's more equipment we could use," he adds.
Members of the Citizens Police academy realized this too. "The community crime lab, the joint crime lab is something that's definitely needed!" exclaims academy graduate Ken Collins
So to help raise some extra money, they've started a petition asking their representatives in Washington for some assistance.
They hope this will help get the project off the ground and crime off the streets "If we have our own crime lab we can cut down on transit time and solve crimes much faster," Collins adds.
And the police have no complaints. "The more help we can get, the more the merrier," Childress says.
They hope to begin renovating the crime lab next year.
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