The Florence County Sheriff's Office has announced that they are receiving a SC Department of Public Safety Justice Assistance Grant (aka a "JAG") for the purposes of establishing a Florence County Forensics Laboratory.According to the FCSO press release:
The grant, which totals $220,660.00 per year for three (3) years, will be used to provide staff and equipment for laboratory analysis of drugs, evidence and material used in the prosecution of criminal cases. “This is a very positive development for the residents of Florence County. Once implemented, our Forensics Department will be able to analyze most evidence on site rather than having it sent off to SLED or some other laboratory for analysis,” Sheriff Kenney Boone stated. “This will cut down on the time and expense required to transport the evidence, reduce any chain of custody issues and result in more speedy trials.” It is estimated that the Forensic Laboratory will be functional in the summer of 2011. Florence County Council unanimously approved the acceptance of the grant.Congrats to the FCSO. Here's to hoping the FCSO has paid attention to the recent spate of forensic lab scandals and implements stringent standards to avoid the problems that we've seen plague labs in San Francisco or our neighbors in North Carolina.
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