Maryland State Police Crime Lab Gains International Certification

The Maryland State Police's forensic laboratory has gained the highest level of accreditation by an international crime laboratory accrediting organization, the agency has announced.

In 2010, the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division Laboratory received evidence from 19,000 criminal cases to process in the forensic fields of biology, toxicology, trace evidence, latent print/impressions, drug analysis, and firearms/tool marks.

The state lab accepts evidence from state, county and local law enforcement agencies. About 68 percent of the requests came from local agencies. The lab also houses Maryland's DNA database and is the state-level access point to the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).