This morning, the leadership of the National Forensics Science Service invited the media to their laboratory in Ladyville. That's where the Ministry of Home Affairs, the NFSS, and the Ministry of Economic Development celebrated the delivery of 2 essential pieces of forensic laboratory equipment, which will bolster the country's forensics capacity.
The pieces of equipment are a high-performance laboratory refrigerator and a handheld, portable Spectrometer. The refrigerator will be used to properly store temperature-sensitive evidence - such as DNA - which is important to solving and successfully prosecuting difficult cases. The Spectrometer will allow enforcement officers to make rapid assessments in real-time as they try to interdict persons suspected to be in possession of the different types of controlled drugs.
The pieces of equipment were purchased under the Belize Integral Security Programme between the Government of Belize and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, CABEI. They were officially handed over at a small ceremony at the NFSS compound in Ladyville, and our news team was there. Here's what the Home Affairs Minister had to say about this donation:
Kareem Musa - Minister of Home Affairs
"Today marks an important project milestone for the CABEI Belize Integral Security Program as we officially receive the first set of forensic laboratory equipment; through this loan agreement, the Belize National Forensic Science Service Laboratory is pleased to add to its inventory a high-performance laboratory refrigerator for secure evidence storage for temperature sensitive items, as well as a handheld Portable FTIR spectrometer for rapid field identification of liquid and solid chemicals. The latter will provide a crucial advantage to forensic and law enforcement personnel who are involved in the investigation of offenses under the Misuse of Drugs Act."
Gian Cho - Executive Director, National Forensic Science Service
"The 2 [pieces of] equipment we received today are an advanced laboratory-grade evidence storage refrigerator. We have refrigerators already, but the forensic laboratory always needs additional storage space. So, this refrigerator will allow us additional storage space using proper temperature storage conditions. The second piece of equipment is a portable, transformed infrared spectrometer. It's a tongue twister, but it's basically an instrument that allows for rapid field identification of chemical substances using a confirmatory analysis. So it provides reliable, accurate field testing of suspected controlled substances or any substances in the law enforcement investigation."
Daniel Ortiz
"Piece of equipment for rapid testing, what is a feedback time in terms of you place a specimen in, and you get a result?"
Gian Cho
"For the instrument we received today, it's a matter of minutes, right minutes. This type of equipment is typically used by Customs and Border Protection, anti-narcotics units, forensic units, and military personnel for the rapid identification of unknown substances. So a couple of minutes and you get your readout on the screen."
Daniel Ortiz
"And then, for the evidence storage, explained to us the importance."
Gian Cho
"A significant amount of the evidentiary items that we receive require refrigeration or freezer storage, -20 degrees Celsius, or for refrigeration, usually four degrees. So the evidence that we receive will be stored until analysis, and that can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months or several years. For DNA, we do long-term storage, and even after a case is closed, we still have to retain refrigerated and frozen items for a minimum period of time. So we're looking at at least up to a decade of storage time that we need for hundreds of items. So every so often, we add a new refrigerator or a new freezer to our inventory to allow for this proper storage space."
Dr. Osmond Martinez - CEO, Ministry of Economic Development
"There are 6.478 million Belize dollars that will be invested in the design and construction of a forensic facility. And two, there is $2.169 million dollars that will be invested in equipment to further equip the Belize Forensic Science Service. And the total amount will be 8.647 Belize million dollars that will be invested that the national forensic science service will enjoy."
