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<br /> <br />City of Elk River <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date <br />Consent Februa 20, 2007 <br />Item Description <br />Consider Resolution Su <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Introduction <br />Sheriff Bruce Anderson has written a letter (attached) requesting that the Elk River City Council pass a <br />resolution supporting a three-county venture in building and staffing a new Regional Forensic Crime <br />Laboratory to be housed in the new Anoka County Public Safety Facility. <br /> <br />Discussion <br />Sherburne County is linking up with Wright and Anoka County as well as Hamline University to create a <br />regional crime lab that would service the three counties and local police agencies. Construction is <br />proposed to begin in 2007 with completion in 2009. <br /> <br />The need for this regional lab has been brought on by the tremendous backlog in cases at the Bureau of <br />Criminal Apprehension Lab in St. Paul. Critical cases, such as homicides and other crimes of violence, <br />often require anywhere from three to nine months for lab results to come through. Other less serious <br />cases require even longer waiting periods. <br /> <br />As the Sheriff points out, this is not a negative reflection on the BCA, but rather a continued lack of <br />funding and resources in a state that is seeing ever increasing levels of serious crimes. A regional lab <br />would expedite the handling of serious cases, would provide a nearby location for us to deliver our <br />evidence to, and in terms of implementing new practices-the timing could not be more right. In Elk River <br />alone we have had to wait for critical DNA results in cases that have been very significant, impacting not <br />only the immediate victim, but the community as a whole. <br /> <br />Financial Impact <br />The resolution requested would lend the City's support to the tri-county request for a bonding bill that <br />would dedicate the funding needed for the regional facility. The Sheriff plans to fund the county portion <br />himself-there is no fmancial impact on our city of our residents. <br /> <br />Attachments <br /> <br />· Letter from Sheriff Anderson <br />· Resolution Supporting Bonding for the Construction of a Regional Forensic Crime Laboratory <br /> <br />Action Requested <br />Mayor and City Council adoption of the resolution supporting bonding for the construction of a regional <br />forensic crime laboratory as requested by the Sheriff. <br /> <br />S:\Cauncil\Palice\Banding for Crime Lab.dac <br />