The Arkansas State Police and Arkansas State Crime Laboratory officially opened the doors Friday to a new Arkansas State Police headquarters and a regional crime laboratory at Lowell. The $14-million facility has been in the making for more than 10 years and sits on a 25-acre site in Lowell (Benton County) along West Monroe Avenue.
Highway Patrol Troop L operations, all categories of driver license testing, northwest Arkansas criminal investigation division offices and crimes against children investigators are now located in a single building that is shared with the forensic scientists assigned to the Lowell Regional Crime Laboratory, which is part of the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory. Almost 70 law enforcement and civilian employees are assigned to the new site.
Governor Asa Hutchinson joined Department of Public Safety officials in welcoming northwest Arkansas legislators and community leaders attending the dedicatory ceremonies at Lowell Friday.
“The Arkansas State Police and State Crime Laboratory are to be commended for their unified long-range vision of efficiency in bringing two state agencies with common objectives together under one roof, but also their refining of these two divisions to better serve local law enforcement and the public in northwest Arkansas. The work by our state troopers, special agents, and crime lab scientists based here will have a direct impact on nearly everyone in northwest Arkansas,” Governor Hutchinson said. “I commend Secretary of Public Safety Jami Cook, State Police Director Colonel Bill Bryant, and Crime Lab Director Kermit Channell, for the vision and leadership that has brought us to this important day.”
The combined Troop L Headquarters and regional crime lab will also directly benefit local police and sheriff’s departments. Drug and toxicology evidence to be analyzed from arrests can now be conducted at the regional lab, saving untold hours in driving time by all law enforcement officers across north and west counties of the state. Until now, officers and deputies have had to make regular weekly trips to the state lab.
The Arkansas State Police and Arkansas State Crime Laboratory are divisions of the Department of Public Safety.
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