Editor's Note: The original headline on this story "Crime lab to come to Scarborough" was misleading as the town currently operates a crime lab. The story describes a regional crime lab to be operated in Portland, which the town council approved.

By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
Scarborough became one of the first communities to participate in a Metro Region Crime Lab when the town council approved the project last week. Scarborough has been joined by Falmouth, South Portland and Cumberland in approving the program. Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil R. Williams said he hoped the town would be voting next month and Westbrook Police Chief William Baker said he was supportive of the idea although the town had not yet voted on the issue. Portland Police Chief Time Burton said that Yarmouth and Windham also expressed interest in using the regional lab.
The project is the product of a year’s worth of work from the Greater Portland Council of Government (GPCOG) and it’s efforts to regionalize community programs for towns of the greater Portland area where it is in their best interests. Most recently GPCOG has endorsed a successful regional recycling program through Ecomaine.
In addition to allowing investigators a common environment to collaborate and learn from each other, Town Manager Ronald Owens said the new lab would allow communities access to expensive equipment while only having to provide a portion of the costs associated with acquiring it.
“There’s always the need for more equipment and more space,” he said.
The new Metro Region Crime Lab will be located in Portland in a renovated gymnasium inside the existing police department, and is predicted to be open to all technicians from participating municipalities in 2009, Owens said. Enrollment in the program is based on a population basis, and is expected to cost Scarborough $12,400 over the course of the 20-year participation agreement.
The fee does not cover the cost of heat and electricity for the facility, which will be provided by Portland at no cost to the other participating communities. It also does not include the cost of any additional equipment purchased for use at the Metro Region Crime Lab.
“We’re making a commitment that will be a tremendous benefit on a cost effective basis,” Owens said at the meeting.
Council chairman Jeff Messer said the cost of Scarborough’s participation in the Metro Region Crime Lab was less than the total amount the town had received in forfeitures from police investigations in the past.
 “This is a good example of what happens when a bunch of communities get together to make something better,” Councilor Ronald Ahlquist said.
Councilor Michael Wood said he had concerns with the “20-year marriage,” specifically about the voting process for funding new equipment, which would require three quarters approval by the various participating police chiefs.
 “If three quarters of the other agencies represented felt there was a need, maybe I’m the one who needs to reassess the situation. You have to give up a little bit of autonomy. It can’t be all things to all people,” Moulton said after the meeting.
Wood also asked about what would happen to the equipment once the 20-year agreement between towns expired.
“That’s something that can be discussed by a board,” Owens said. “You cannot cover everything but we can ensure that everyone has a chance to be involved in those decisions.”
Ahlquist said he believed most of the equipment purchased would have a shelf life of less than 20 years, which could be coordinated with the departing of any or all municipalities.
It will not be the first time departments have worked together, as the South Portland Police have kept some of their forensic equipment in the Scarborough lab for the past three years.
“South Portland had a ventilation problems, and it would have cost a lot to repair their lab. They had a couple of expensive pieces of equipment we didn’t have, so when they shut down their space they moved it to our lab, where their technicians can come if they need to use it,” Moulton said.
South Portland Police Chief Edward Googins said he believed the equipment would be moved to the Metro Region Crime Lab once it opened.
Detective Ronald Nelson has been a member of Scarborough Police for 27 years, and their full time crime lab technician since 1984. He said that Scarborough is one of only a dozen municipalities in the state to employ a full time lab technician, as most towns require patrolmen or detectives to perform lab duties in addition to their regular police work.
“Not a whole lot is going to change for me,” he said.
Nelson said it has taken 15 years to build up the equipment in Scarborough’s lab, which he said will continue to provide a base for his normal daily operations, such as latent fingerprint analysis and using special microscopes to look at evidence, even after the new lab is opened.
“Our lab is comparable to any other agency in the state,” Nelson said. “If I needed more room to take a look at equipment I might have to [go to the Metro Region Crime Lab]. It doesn’t happen a whole lot.”
Moulton said part of the new lab’s importance is to allow Nelson the chance to collaborate with other technicians from the region. He said this would inevitably result in a “natural sharing of information,” benefiting any newer technicians coming into the region.
“[Nelson] has been doing this a long time,” he said. “For somebody working alone in our lab, by themselves, it would take a long time to get to the level Ronald’s at.”
While Moulton said this sharing of information would benefit investigations, he does not believe the new lab would change the scope of Scarborough’s investigative capacities, such as homicides. Unlike Portland, which can conduct its own homicide investigations, Scarborough would continue to allow the Maine State Police to investigate any suspicious deaths.
“We don’t have a lot, and the state has a relationship with the attorney general. We’re always working hand in hand with the state, and don’t have any plans for that at this point,” he said.