IBERIA PARISH, La. ( KLFY ) — For 35 years, the Acadiana Crime Laboratory Facility has been a vital resource for crime solving in southwest Louisiana; the groundbreaking of a new facility looks to begin a new era of criminalistics analysis.

The project is 35 years in the making and looks to help continue serving law enforcement agencies in eight different parishes across Acadiana. The nearly $26 million project will see a 40,000 square foot facility to help continue housing evidence and analyze crime data with high-tech state of the art equipment for crime solving.

“That’s going to all move to the new lab. The new lab will allow us to have a better workflow,” Kevin Ardoin, lab director, said.

Ardoin said this was much needed as the former facility was getting outdated and needed more room and it is important “to make sure that we protect the evidence adequately. It will also allow us to do our job better.”

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Lafayette Parish Sheriff and president of the laboratory commission, Mark Garber, said the new facility is critical to the future of the local justice system.

“The public needs to know we’re doing more with less every day by using technology,” Garber said. “This is a great leap forward as far as the technical side of law enforcement goes here in Acadiana.”

Construction will begin as soon as next week with hopes of finishing by July 2025.

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