Your tax deductible donation will play a major part in solving crimes, preventing crime, and saving lives throughout southern Nevada.

The second largest city in Nevada, with a population of over 250,000, does not have a forensic crime lab. Without a crime lab, the majority of the evidence from crimes that occur in Henderson cannot be analyzed. This affects the crime fighting capability throughout southern Nevada.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) is the only full-service forensic crime lab in Southern Nevada. It cannot support all agencies in the Las Vegas Valley, and their DNA analysis capability is critically limited. In addition, LVMPD leases their laboratory buildings from private owners, adding to the potential of shutting down the lab for months, in order to move to other facilities. This last happened in 2005.

Most law enforcement agencies in Nevada now send all DNA evidence to Texas, California, or to laboratories in other states for analysis. All gunshot residue (GSR) evidence is sent to Texas. No forensic laboratory in Nevada has the equipment or capability to conduct GSR analysis.

Approximately 95 percent of the potential forensic evidence in Nevada's second largest city cannot be analyzed. This is due to inadequate facilities and a critical shortage of equipment and civilian analysts. The shortages are difficult to overcome without having a state-of-the-art facility.

The only way to build a Forensic Science Center / Crime Lab in a reasonable timeframe is by raising funds through private individuals and organizations. The construction of a building that will house a state-of-the-art crime lab, crime scene investigation section, and evidence vault is extremely expensive. Construction material costs and labor costs are going up by thousands of dollars every day. And the City of Henderson does not have $37 million in the general fund to pay for such a facility.

Scientific education opportunities will be created in an expanded Forensic Science Center and Educational Research Institute.

Homeland security in Southern Nevada will be enhanced through the addition of a Forensic Science Center. A fully operational Forensic Science Center will allow for a greatly increased amount of evidence that can be recovered and analyzed. Criminals know no boundaries. Crimes solved in Henderson are often the key to solving and preventing crimes in LVMPD's jurisdiction as well as in other law enforcement agency jurisdictions.