Mesa police seek new forensic center

They work out of storage closets and examine latent prints in tiny squares for hours on end. They stash records anywhere they will fit and test ballistics in a small room next to cubicles.

Employees of the 15,000-squarefoot Mesa Police Forensic Services Section have been crowded into their work spaces for about a decade, but have still managed to maintain a faster turnaround time for forensic analysis than the state’s crime lab, officials said.

And that time frame should improve even further if a new 48,000-square-foot building is ever built.

The building would be funded by public safety bonds approved in 2004 and the quality of life tax, but work has not yet begun.

The Mesa City Council is expected to decide Monday if it will approve nearly $18.5 million in construction costs. If it does, officials will break ground in early June.

“We’re the 40th largest city in the country and we’re running out of closets,” said Councilman Rex Griswold. “If you want a modern police force to solve crimes you’re going to need to make this investment.”

Mesa police Cmdr. Rick Clore said the new building is expected to last through 2025, but to accommodate growth and the increasing need to store evidence for extended periods, officials had requested an 85,000-square-foot facility.

“It’s tough sometimes,” said Gary Mollencopf, who has worked for more than 10 years in the unit that archives fingerprints. “The work you do requires concentration and it can get difficult when it’s crowded.”

Four employees working two shifts currently work in the small room that holds about 100,000 fingerprint cards, dating back to 1948. Down the hall, 13 people cram into a narrow storage closet where lockers also are kept.

“Without having to step over one another, we’ll increase efficiency,” Clore said.

Griswold said he is especially concerned about the current facility’s evidence storage. He said improper evidence storage could lead to cases being dismissed — a problem he fears could occur if the new building isn’t built soon.

Councilman Mike Whalen, a former police officer, said the issue of property storage will be an ongoing problem, as courts demand authorities retain evidence for longer periods.

But aside from it’s lack of space, the crime lab portion of the forensic center has saved detectives an invaluable amount of time in solving cases, Clore said.

Cities without their own crime labs rely on the Arizona Department of Public Safety crime lab, a sophisticated, but busy lab, which can take months or even a year to generate forensic results for cases such as rapes and DUIs.

“I can turn around a blood test in 24 hours,” Clore said. “It’s these results that I can get back a lot faster.”