COLUMBUS, Ohio — Crime labs across the state of Ohio will receive $3.4 million in funding via the Ohio Crime Lab Efficiency Program, as announced by Gov. Mike DeWine Friday in a press release.
The 11 labs will receive funding from the 2022 program, which seeks to “reduce and eliminate backlogs, increase overall lab efficiency and decrease evidence processing time.”
“Criminal investigations depend on the timely work of dedicated forensic scientists and chemists at Ohio’s crime labs," DeWine said in the release. "The initial $10 million in funding awarded in 2022 was successful in helping crime labs significantly reduce backlogs, and this additional funding will help labs continue to keep their turnaround times down."
The grant money can be spent by these labs on staffing, tech and outsourcing.
The release notes that this funding is part of a “$250 million investment by the DeWine-Husted Administration and the Ohio General Assembly to help state and local first-responder agencies counter increases in violent crime and mitigate impacts on staffing levels and first-responder wellness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”