BOWLING GREEN — In 100 years, someone will open the time capsule locked in a wall of the new Bureau of Criminal Investigation laboratory, look at the DNA swab kit, and probably shake their head at how elementary it looks.
Tom Stickrath, Ohio's superintendent of the BCI, put the DNA kit into the capsule today during the grand opening of the facility on Bowling Green State University's campus.
The new facility is a state-of-the-art forensics laboratory that will house the some of the state's investigators who test ballistics, gather criminal intelligence, analyze trace evidence, and anything else that is needed to help law-enforcement agencies in their investigations.
“What really excites me is what this building stands for,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
The Center for the Future of Forensic Science was “challenged” by Mr. DeWine to advance forensics, a challenge that Mr. Stickrath said he and the investigators were up to.
The 30,000-square foot, $11.9 million facility is located at North College Drive and Leroy Avenue. During the roughly 16-month construction process, 50,000 manhours were logged, said Kimberly Murnieks, the chief operating officer in the Attorney General's office. She said 85 percent of the construction workers on the project were from Northwest Ohio.
The Bowling Green lab, which serves 22 northwest Ohio counties, is one of three in Ohio – the BCI also has labs in Richfield and London. The former Bowling Green lab was inside a converted grocery store in a strip mall.
Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.
First Published November 10, 2014, 9:44 p.m.
