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M mir 20, 2018 | Cam Sian Champion c ilto B NEWS CSI HALTON: POLICE COUNT DOWN TO LAUNCH OF NEW FORENSICS LAB & THE NEW LAB AT HALTON POLICE 5 HEADQUARTERS WILL ALLOW FOR BETTER 2 PROTECTION OF EVIDENCE - AND YOU CAN 5s DRIVE A CAR INSIDE. AIRA PEESKER peesker@metroland.com =n wn The popular conscious- ness is obsessed with de- = tectives, crime scene in- vestigations and forensics labs - just flip around the TV dial to prove it. It's a fascinating kind of work that requires sharp ébser- vation abilities, meticu- Tous attention to detail and a whole swath of tech- nical skills - and for the team of about 24 people who do it in Halton Re- ion, it's about to get even better. Halton police's forensic services unit is getting a brand new tab this month, as the force opens the doors to its brand new headquarters on Bronte Road. The new lab will help investigators better maintain the quality of their evidence, meaning more accurate results for cases going to court. "The new lab includes significant changes to how we will protect evi- dence from contamina- tion or cross-contamina- tion," said Staff Sgt. Rhon- da Alcock, a former inves- tigator who now manages the unit. "It's going to be a huge improvement on what we have now." The lab in the old head- quarters is comprised of one large room with sep- arate workstations, she said, while the new facil- ity will have three distinct labs in different rooms. Evidence is always care- fully protected, Alcock explained, adding that one can't be too careful Graham Paine/Metroland Halton Regional Police are set to open their new headquarters on North Service Road in Oakville, the new facility is almost four times larger than their current building. when dealing with biolog- ical matter. "Everywhere we go, we leave something of our- selves behind," she said, explaining that the new lab has a vestibule area where investigators can "gown up" before going in- Canada's Largest Golf Show February 8-10, 2019 International Centre Reach thousands of ul) engaged GTA golfers, travellers \ their families & friends. NOW BOOKING! www.torontogolfshow.com f & side, something that didn't exist in the old fa- cility. "Then when we ex- it, there's an area where we would 'gown down' and decontaminate our- selves." The new lab also in- cludes a special garage ON SALE! Use METROLAND -to save $3 online FUJIFILM instax T~ gp)! wel) y 5 that will allow for better investigations into vehi- cles involved in incidents. "It's drive-thru with an overhead catwalk," said Alcock. "It gives us the ability to photograph, ex- amine vehicles, and sup- port the collision recon- struction unit. That's an- other feature we don't. have now." Alcock's unit includes both civilians and sworn officers, filling roles as varied as DNA co-ordina- tor, fingerprint clerk and photo file management, in addition to the forensic identification officers and "scenes of crime" officers who we might typically think of when picturing that type of work. The fo- rensics identification offi- cers - two detectives and eight detective constables - are the people autho- rized to work in the labs. Alcock explained that certain tasks, like extract- ing fingerprints from var- ious items, can be done in- house, while DNA evi- WEDDING INNOVATIONS Qe D> nted by the DAL "mw September 21-23, 2018 International Centre _¢# | HALTON POLICE FORENSIC SERVICES UNIT ROLES Six Scenes of Crime Officers (Constables) Eight Forensic Identification Officers (Detective Constables) Two Forensic Identification | Officers (Detectives) One Detective Sergeant One Automatic Fingerprint Identification System Operator (Detective Constable) One DNA Co-ordinator (Detective Constable) Two Fingerprint Clerks (Civilian) One Forensic Firearms Analyst (Detective Constable) One Forensic Exhibit Clerk (Civilian) One Identification Technician (Photo File Manegerient) (Civilian) dence is sent to the Onta- rio Centre of Forensic Sci- ences in Toronto for processing and addition to a national databank. See - page 35 DAILY FASHION SHOWS CUTTING-EDGE VENDORS, ECO-FRIENDLY OPTIONS RETAIL SHOPPING www.nationalbridalshow.com | @NationalBridal GLOW. CANADA Cs mam " WEDDINGS 5 THE KIT