Billion-dollar lab set for crime fight

The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory

After years of serial unsolved crimes, the investigative capacity of law enforcement is expected to be boosted with the opening of the long-awaited Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory.

The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory
The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory

The $1.049 billion project which was funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was commissioned yesterday and in addition to conducting a broad range of tests, a section of the sprawling 12, 000-ft complex will be used as a training ground for science students of the University of Guyana.

The IDB has been approached about the inclusion of DNA testing at the facility.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee in his address to the sizeable gathering thanked the University for providing the land on which the building has been constructed. He said that of critical importance was the credibility of the lab, the evidence it produced and the fact that it needed to be built on neutral ground. It was through negotiation that the government, he said, managed to secure a section of the Turkeyen campus.

He said that the university “was able to negotiate that the lab be used as a training ground for young scientists in the field of forensics.” He said that there is a special section located within the building for these students.

He added that qualified staffing and under whose supervision the facility should fall were issues of concern. Rohee stated that it