DOTHAN, AL (WDNews) On Monday, August 18, state and local officials convened to commemorate the grand opening of a new drug laboratory in the Wiregrass owned by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. The facility is anticipated to significantly reduce the time required to process evidence in criminal cases.
The facility will expedite drug test findings, which can presently take up to two years when evidence needs to be forwarded to Montgomery, according to officials. It is anticipated that the new facility will reduce that wait time by half, enabling prosecutors to expedite the processing of cases before circuit courts and grand juries.
The facility is an example of a robust state-local collaboration, according to Angelo Della Manna, director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
Every day, this facility contributes to making Alabama, not just the Wiregrass, a safer environment, according to Della Manna. We are performing cutting-edge forensic testing and removing some of the most harmful medications from the market.
Attending the ribbon-cutting, Governor Kay Ivey commended the facility as a top public safety initiative.
According to Ivey, this facility was constructed with efficiency, capacity, and the newest forensic technologies in mind.
The direct influence of the lab on law enforcement was mentioned by Attorney General Steve Marshall.
According to Marshall, evil guys aren’t being removed from the streets by long commutes to a lab. Public safety has improved as a result of your decision to invest the funds necessary to open this facility.
The Dothan facility was built with the possibility of adding autopsy and DNA analysis in the future, but it will primarily concentrate on drug testing. It takes the place of the Dothan facility on Cherry Street, which closed years ago due to financial constraints.
According to local prosecutors, the new lab would reduce case backlogs and increase efficiency in Houston County, where grand juries handle up to 600 cases annually, including hundreds of drug charges.
Russ Goodman, the district attorney for the 20th Circuit, stated that this will alter the way we do things. It benefits the community and the defendants who may resolve these cases and move on with their lives.
