EDNEYVILLE, N.C. — A new crime lab in North Carolina aims to increase efficiency within the state's criminal justice system, particularly in regard to drug and DNA evidence.
[READ MORE: New state crime lab to speed up processing of drug, sexual assault cases]
State Attorney General Josh Stein attended the inauguration of the State Crime Lab office for western North Carolina in Edneyville this weekend. The new regional crime lab, unlike the one in Asheville, relieves the burden of DNA evidence testing from the main lab in Raleigh, which was previously the only facility with that capacity.
Around 20 new employees will help the lab focus on drug evidence, with western North Carolina the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic in the state, as well as DNA evidence, which could help reduce the backlog of untested evidence form rape kits.
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