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The San Bernardino County Sheriff's department, along with other county officials and law enforcement agencies celebrated the ground breaking for a Sheriff's Crime Lab Expansion project which will build a new 20,000 sq. ft. crime lab alongside the existing lab providing long awaited growth in space, equipment and staff for the Sheriff's scientific investigations devision.

The new $17 million lab will be built to the west the existing 35,000 sq. ft. lab and property warehouse on county-owned property on Lena Street. The funds for the project were originally allocated by the Board of Supervisors in June 2007, McMahon said.

The project's construction contract was awarded to AMG and Associates, Inc. and will begin with parking lot demolition on Thursday. Further construction is scheduled to start next Tuesday, and the project is anticipated to be completed in November 2015.

During the ground breaking ceremonies held on Tuesday, Oct. 28, Sheriff John McMahon and county supervisors Josie Gonzales and James Ramos each spoke of how long new and permanent facilities have been needed for the crime lab as many of its investigators work in modular buildings used to supplement the existing crime lab.

"We involved the staff to help design a facility that would work the best for them," McMahon said. "We rely more and more on forensic evidence and the analysis work they do here at the crime lab. We at this point are bursting at the seams. We cannot add additional staff. This is a huge step for us. The space will allow us to expand the staff as funding permits and continue to do the good work we do throughout the county."

"Being able to increase the facilities is a huge opportunity for us as jurors today increasingly expect irrefutable forensic evidence to be present in every single case, the CSI effect," Gonzales said. "This is an opportunity for us to continue to serve justice to the residents of San Bernardino County so that when a crime is committed there is confidence in the results and data that comes from the Sheriff's Department and the Coroner's Department so the people can trust the outcome and the verdicts."

In addition to providing new lab space for the Sheriff's Department's controlled substance, crime scene investigation, firearms/tool marks and the forensic alcohol units the lab will also house a narcotics lab, a alcohol blood test facility and an indoor shooting range and bullet trap.

According to Laboratory Director Steve Johnson, moving those units to the new building will also open up space and allow for a remodel in the existing building which will continue to house the DNA lab.

With the annex, the lab department, which currently holds about 60 employees, will have room to add an additional 11 employees, according to McMahon.

This comes at a critical time as the CSI effect has increased the work load of the lab department which serves the entire San Bernardino County and, at times, other county's departments.

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County breaks ground on new crime lab