Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Dan Ragsdale and U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) unveiled a major renovation to the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Forensic Laboratory on Tuesday.
“The men and women who work at this state-of-the art forensic laboratory are performing critical support on a wide variety of criminal investigations — including document fraud, drug and weapons trafficking, human smuggling, child pornography, cybercrimes and other issues important to national security,” Johnson said. “In Fiscal Year 2015, the lab processed over 35,000 pieces of evidence and its staff provided fraudulent document detection training to over 2,500 personnel from U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies. The renovation and expansion of this lab will help ensure that our forensic scientists have the right tools to accomplish their mission.”
Key components of the lab include an extensive reference library of more than 300,000 genuine, counterfeit and altered travel and identity documents and other reference materials; a latent print section in which fingerprints can be developed on weapons, computers, currency and other materials; and a digital media evidence laboratory for enhancing and processing digital media files from surveillance footage, wiretaps and other sources.
The lab has been accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board since 2001.