Crime Lab and Property Room

The Crime Lab is a support unit within the Police Department staffed by five civilian lab technicians and a Supervisor who photograph, collect and preserve evidence found at crime scenes.   Technicians run breathalyzer tests, and photograph and fingerprint suspects.  They fingerprint and process background checks for individuals  needing them for employment:  over 250 people used this service in the first 4 months of  2006 alone.


Our Crime Lab is proud to own some very
 sophisticated equipment which supports our
 officers' efforts in fighting crime.  One such machine is the CYVAC latent fingerprint analyzer, a highly sensitive vacuum system whose large chamber will accomodate large and/or numerous objects for analysis.    Our fuming hood further reduces the time it takes to process evidence  by allowing processing without inhaling the toxic fumes produced by some of the chemicals used to lift prints or other substances.





Property/Evidence Room


Two HPPD civilians and a supervisor maintain the property room where evidence, found property and seized property are dropped off 24 hours a day through means of a secure drop box and secure lockers.

Our new NarTest system, one of only two such systems in the nation currently,  analyzes illicit drugs quickly and efficiently, eliminating the need to send evidence to an off-site lab.  It is operated by technician Jane Aswell of our property room. 

Evidence---everything from vehicles to jewelry---is identified, tagged, entered in the computer system, inventoried, and stored.  Overall HPPD maintains 19,000 pieces of evidence.