This year, the City of Austin’s Forensic Science Services is hitting a milestone, celebrating 50 years of service, and becoming a separate stand-alone department. The department is a nationally accredited laboratory (#FT-0325) established to provide quality forensic services to the City of Austin. The department collects and processes evidence at crime scenes, conducts examinations and analyses of evidence within state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, and reports and testifies to the results in court.  

The City’s forensic services began in 1972 with a handful of people assigned to the Austin Police Department’s Photo-Identification Section, Chemistry Lab, and an Evidence Room. Since that time, there have been major changes in forensic structure, facilities, staff, and mission. Today, the Forensic Science Department consists of accredited Crime Scene, Latent Prints, Firearms & Toolmarks, Toxicology, and Seized Drugs sections, and forensic support services of Multi-Media, Polygraph, Case Management, and Evidence Control. Forensic services are provided by nearly 90 civilian employees within the Department. 

This year, the City removed Forensic Sciences out of the Austin Police Department as part of the budget and Reimagining Public Safety process. Operational autonomy and independence from law enforcement enhances impartial scientific and forensic support services to the community and criminal justice system. The department is led by Dr. Dana Kadavy. Its mission is to provide accurate and impartial scientific analysis and support services to the criminal justice system while maintaining the highest level of quality and professionalism. 

“We want to ensure survivors trust forensic services and secure the justice they deserve," said Dr. Kadavy. “This is an extra layer of autonomy and independence that we hope will provide comfort while ensuring we're able to provide the highest quality services for our community.”

A few recent accomplishments include: 

• Generated over 5,000 forensic results that contributed to solving major crimes in Austin including identification of a 1986 cold-case murder suspect using forensic genealogy.  

• Recognized by the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for voluntarily implementing rigorous standards in scientific testing, protocols, and best practices to ensure forensic results that are reliable and reproducible.  

• Led the City’s 24/7, 365 crime scene response services by investigating over 3,000 scenes in 2021 alone, overcoming challenges of pandemic, hazardous weather conditions, and record staff vacancies.  

• Destruction of 494 firearms and 1,785lbs of seized drugs in 2022. 

Learn more by visiting https://www.austintexas.gov/department/forensic-science. 

###