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	Gary Hamblin, Administrator • Biography
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Crime Labs

The Wisconsin Crime Lab System

There are three crime laboratories within the Division of Law Enforcement Services, Wisconsin Department of Justice. The laboratory located in Madison was created by the Legislature in 1947–one of the first state-level laboratories in the U.S. The second laboratory was opened in the Milwaukee area in 1975. In 1991, the Wausau facility opened.

Laboratory staff examines questioned materials and compares them with standard materials to determine whether the source is the same, or whether a relationship exists. Findings may serve to focus an investigation in an entirely different direction from that originally thought to be most significant.

At present, the laboratories located in Madison and Milwaukee are “full service” facilities while the Wausau laboratory directly supports only drug analysis, fingerprint/footwear analysis, forensic imaging, and field response.

Requesting Aid

The laboratory is authorized to participate in a criminal investigation only at the request of authorized governmental officials (see table). Services are available to the defendant in a felony action upon his or her request and with the approval of the presiding judge (Wis. Stat. §165.79(1)). The laboratory also cooperates with federal and state agencies. The Department is authorized by statute to decline laboratory service in any matter not involving a potential felony charge.

Whether or not it may accept a case, the laboratory is available for consultation. If in doubt, criminal justice providers are urged to communicate with the lab for advice, counsel, and/or recommendations relative to the particular problems confronting them in their investigation. The laboratories are open Monday through Friday, 7:45 am to 4:30 pm, except holidays. After-hour services are available via field response teams dispatched from the Madison and Wausau laboratories.

Court Presentation of Findings

In addition to returning a written report of scientific findings, staff members are authorized and qualified to appear in courts of law as expert witnesses. At preliminary hearings, a forensic scientist's report can stand in place of an actual appearance. Wisconsin Statutes §970.03 (12)(b) reads, in part:

Much of this information was abridged from the introduction to the Laboratory's Physical Evidence Handbook (7th ed), which is available from the Wisconsin Department of Administration, Document Sales Unit, 202 S. Thornton Avenue, PO Box 7840, Madison, WI 53707-7840, Phone: 1-800-DOC-SALE (362-7253).

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