Travis Bell

Disney, Lauren
Forensics
Date:
Local, State, and Federal Crime Labs
The term crime lab has been built up over time and have become a popular part of culture
because off of the media, television, and movies. A crime lab is the place that typically analyze
evidence found from a crime scene. These labs can be local or federally owned. This meaning
that if a crime lab is federally owned, they have the authority to access data and evidence with
fewer restrictions than a state lab. Although, not all labs are publicly owned. If a crime lab is
privately owned then they arent issued the first response crime scene evidence. This is taken
care by the public laboratories but some evidence can be brought to the private lab for further
examination.
One of the federal crime units would be the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI was
founded on July 26, 1908 and has held a leadership role to state and local agencies across the
world. The units responsibility is to protect the US from foreign and domestic threats by having
access to intelligence and the ability to enforce the law. These enforcement's are based in many
places internationally and enable them to have a quick response to a serious threat if needed.
This agency has a total of 35,104 employees and is lead by the director James Comey. There are
many agencies, but the main headquarters is located at 935 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington,
DC 20535.
Another Federal Crime unit would be the DEA. The DEA (Drug Enforcement
Administration) exists to monitor and prevent illegal activity involving anything deemed as a

drug. This unit was established on July 1, 1973. The DEA headquarters is located in each state
and the one in Ky is at 600 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Pl, Louisville, KY 40203. This units
administrator is Michele Marie Leonhart and is the overseer of 4,980 special agents not
including the individual state agencies.
A third federal crime unit would be The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. This
unit was established on July 1, 1972 and is now directed by B. Todd Jones. ATF exists to protect
communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of
firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism,
and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products. A big way that the ATF helps solve
crimes is through trace data.
A fourth federal unit would be the Postal Service. The postal service was created to link
everyone in the US together for a way of communication. The USPS was established in 1971
when the US gov. fully took control. It is now controlled by the agency executive Patrick R.
Donahoe and has over 626k employees. The headquarters can be found at 475 L'Enfant Plaza
SW Washington, D.C although smaller agencies are in your local towns. Postal service use to be
a privilege. For example in 1912 these services were only open to people in the middle to upper
class.
The last major federal unit is the US Fish and Wildlife Department. It was established in
1984 when congress created a program to exist in order to keep the natural resources and wild
animals in good condition. This department does major studies to examine the population of
animals and how to preserve their numbers. The NFWD has many offices across the nation,
including at least one in every state.

In the state of Kentucky there is a central crime lab that is made up from many units,
(KSP). This consists of the blood alcohol, toxicology, breath alcohol maintenance, solid dose
drugs, arson, firearms, DNA casework, DNA database, photo, and polygraph units. These units
are specialized in their areas and are typically the step before a case could go federal. Under
these units are the city police. The city police are usually the first response and if a case needs
further evaluation then it can be sent to the KSP.

"Drug Enforcement Administration." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 04 Dec.
2014.

"DEA.gov / Home." DEA.gov / Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

"ATF." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.

"United States Postal Service." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.

"Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund." Welcome to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Dec. 2014.

"Central Lab." Kentucky State Police:. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.