$ 67 million Mankato BCA Lab promises a large boost for fighting crime in the region | Local news

Mankato -A 67 -million dollar -criminal laboratory that comes to Mankato after next year will bring the city a large construction project, add 50 scientists and investigators to the local workforce, increase the reaction times for forensic investigations and offer a greater time and cost savings for the law enforcement of the region.

“I can't wait,” said Blue Earth County Jeff Wersal's sheriff. “You will be good neighbors.”

The regional office and the laboratory of the office for criminal concerns in Southern Minnesota will later break the ground this year after the legislators have approved the funds for the high-tech facility north of Blue Earth County's judicial center on the East Side of Mankato.

While the BCA laboratory brings the construction expenses and ongoing new jobs to Mankato, they also save time and resources for police stations and sheriff offices in South -Minnesota. The law enforcement officers will no longer drive to the BCA's St. Paul laboratory with evidence that range from alleged illegal drugs to DNA samples.

“This is a big deal, not only for Mankato, but for the entire southern part of the state of Minnesota,” said Susan Arnz, Manager of Mankato City.

Nobody will see a greater advantage than investigators from the department of Wersal, which will be able to literally enter the evidence of the new BCA laboratory. Mankato police officers have to drive through the city, but a 25-minute tour instead of a three or four hours of run to St. Paul.

The planned service area for the Mankato system comprises 43 of the 87 counties of Minnesota, which means that the St. Paul laboratory can concentrate on the U -Bahn area, and the existing Bemidji regional office can adhere to cases from the northern part of the state.

All police authorities south and west of Mankato are reduced.

“It is a long journey from Marshall and Luverne to St. Paul,” said Arntz. “For most of a day, if not all day, someone could lose weight from a shift.”

The use of the BCA laboratory is not uncommon for law enforcement in larger communities. Everything that can be used as proof of criminal activities or that connects an individual suspect with a crime for weapons, balls, housings and other ballistic objects; Rape kits; Drugs and remnants of drugs; Blood and urine tests in Dui cases; Fingerprints; DNA samples; Current information deeply buried on mobile phones or computers; And every piece of clothing or other evidence that a DNA could have – receives the expert analysis of the BCA scientists.

“We have pretty much things every day to visit the BCA,” said Wersal.

The material does not always have to be driven by an investigator. Sometimes BCA agents offer to deliver it when they drive to St. Paul. And a large part of it is sent by certified email.

However, leaving the mail can be sent to the laboratory, especially for top-class criminal matters or when weapons for ballistics, fingerprints or DNA tests.

“You always run the risk that God, something that happens,” said Wersal. “This is how we usually accept personally.”

Each of these trips consumes hours that investigators could devote themselves to other law enforcement tasks. Kilometers output, meals and letter costs also add up.

The transport of the material cannot be easily taken due to considerations to the chain of customers who occur in criminal persecution. If evidence is presented during a process, someone must be available to say that the material cannot be falsified in any way from the time when it was collected at a crime scene.

In the case of shipping material, special adhesive tape is used to seal the package and must be broken to open it. A scientist in the BCA laboratory therefore takes a photo of the unbroken seal when every proof of evidence arrives, said Wersal.

But if the tape is broken on the way, a defender will throw doubts about the validity of this evidence.

“If it was damaged, it is huge for defense,” said Wersal. “So we tend to do a lot of it personally.”

The presence of a new laboratory in Mankato also brings other advantages and offers more space and equipment to facilitate the workload and overcrowding in the existing BCA laboratories.

“We also hope that the gymnasium-around times are much faster,” said Wersal.

The BCA superintendent Drew Evans spoke about the cramped conditions in St. Paul when he was preparing to look for a construction financing for the Mankato facility.

Evans said that the facility of the headquarters was designed for around 360 people, but according to a free press history in October 2023, more than 500 works work there.

“… if the needs and requirements for forensic tests in the state of Minnesota are growing because they have clear in the past 10 years, we need more space,” said Evans.

When illustrating the state of legislators, the BCA reported that the evidence of DNA analysis has increased by 175% since 2010. The examination of pharmaceutical evidence has more than doubled with the increase in fentanyl, and tips on cybercrime that affects children has risen 353% in five years.

The new Mankato facility will have the ability to test 12,000 evidence per year in the service of 6,000 individual criminal matters.

The new mankato facility will also have a crime scene reaction team, so that the BCA van, which appears in murders and other main crimes, will be much less distance to cover the incidents in South Central Minnesota.

“We don't wait hours for the crime scene -” said Wersal. “It's right here. With the employees.”

The BCA also offers training seminars for local agencies and often organizes them in its existing facilities.

“A lot of time, including meals and hotels,” said Weral about the cost of sending personnel to a seminar. “… many counties in the southern Minnesota, it is a day off there. If you can do it down here, it is much easier for everyone.”

The construction could soon be underway in the Mankato facility, since there was a final approval of the construction finance before the legislator in June. These preparatory work included the purchase of land and agreements to expand bassett Drive to the east to ensure access, zoning and land use permits and building designs.

The designs show a 44,000 square meter regional facility that offers laboratories, offices and specialized training space. The facility will also provide the BCA more space for the examination of digital evidence, the storage of evidence, polygraph examinations, facial reconstruction work and more according to the materials presented to the legislator.

“Pioneering is planned for some time in autumn when everyone stays on the right track,” said Jill Oliveira, a public information officer of the Ministry of Public Security in Minnesota – the broader state agency that includes the BCA.

And the facility could be completed and put into operation in a little more than a year, said Oliveira: “We will be communicated in late 2026 or early 2027.”