Inside the small brown brick building on Chestnut Street in Toms River, is a cadre of scientists and law enforcement officers working side by side. They are Ocean County’s crime solvers.

Annually the staff of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Crime Scene Investigation Unit or CSI works on thousands of criminal cases that have occurred in most of the county’s 33 municipalities.

Ocean County has embarked on a capital plan to provide advanced technology and upgrades in order to increase efficiencies and to assure analysis and test results are accurate when they leave the building.

And a new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is allowing for easier handling of information helpful to county investigators and police departments.

“It’s important we provide state of the art tools so the scientists and investigators that work here do the best job possible,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director John P. Kelly, Director of Law and Public Safety.”In an environment when new drugs are always being introduced, the war on terror has escalated and the criminal has grown far more savvy then even a decade ago, it’s important CSI be provided with the latest and most advanced technologies.

“We took a comprehensive look and developed a multi-year commitment that continues to invest in the Sheriff’s Department because that’s what keeps our citizens safe,” Kelly said. “This capital plan which we began implementing in 2013 is imperative for this unit to function at the highest levels. This commitment does not stop today. We will keep the needs of law enforcement at the forefront to protect our citizens.”

“Whether it’s drug testing, toxicology, ballistics or recreating a crime scene, this unit has an important role in determining the outcome of a criminal case. CSI historically has a record of solving major crime cases in Ocean County,” said Ocean County Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy. “This work is serious business when it comes to public safety.”

While not exactly the glamourous atmosphere of the popular television series, Ocean County’s crime lab will undergo an expansion in the near future providing more space for the staff. The expansion also will provide more room to better house the new equipment purchased under the capital plan.

The new equipment so far includes new liquid chromatograph – mass spectrometers used for detecting trace drug compounds in blood and urine samples in driving under the influence cases along with postmortem toxicology samples; toxicology testing equipment used to detect drug antibodies in biological fluids; gas chromatograph – mass spectrometers, considered the “work horse” for the lab, used for identifying drugs seized off the streets.

There are also new microscopes, a high tech digital fingerprint analysis system, a Leica scanner that assists in preserving crime scenes, new photo lab equipment, ballistic analysis equipment and evidence tracking.

Freeholder Virginia E. Haines, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Information Technology Department, said that department has an integral role in making certain all the new technologies are up and running properly.

“We are all working together to serve our citizens,” Haines said. “It’s so important to make sure the criminals are taken off our streets, to preserve evidence and to make certain any analysis used in the courts that comes from our lab is precise.”

Matthew R. Wood, Laboratory Director for the county’s Forensic Sciences Laboratory, said the advancement of technology is what provides the information that helps them in the work they do.

“Information drives the science,” he said. “We need to adjust to help us continue to meet the standards. This new equipment is allowing us to do that and more.”

For instance, Wood noted the new spectrometers have a larger capacity allowing for more samples to be tested at a time. In addition, a larger number of drugs and chemicals can be tested for in a shorter period of time.

Wood noted that heroin makes up about one-third of the lab submissions which is about a 30 percent increase from just five years ago.

“We see the trends here,” said Wood as he produced a library containing information on 1.5 million chemicals. “The samples have become more challenging.”

The lab handles about 4,000 drug cases and about 300 firearms cases a year.

On the other side of the hall, the 11 CSI detectives are getting use to putting down their pens and notepads and using the new Crimepad computerized notebooks to gather information from crime scenes where it’s now in one central location rather than the folders that once held their notes by their desks.

“This newest upgrade was rolled out this Monday (Oct. 24),” said Lt. James Pissott Jr., who oversees the day to day operations of the Crime Scene Unit. “This is a tool we use in the field. It’s a 21st century notepad.”

Pissott said the Crimepad comes with many benefits and allows the detectives to limit the number of people at a crime scene helping to preserve evidence.

“With this, some of the detectives can see the scene from a remote location and be able to ask questions about it and look for details,” Pissott said. “A crime scene walk through is a critical component to a homicide investigation. This will allow detectives and command staff to view the interior of a crime scene from a remote location without ever worrying about scene contamination.”

The information gathered which also includes details like the weather and the location, is also put into the Laboratory Information Management System.

“In addition to increasing the speed and efficiency that reports are generated, we can also query crime patterns and M.O.s,” Pissott said. “We are producing a better product for our courts.”

Pissott added that upgrades to the fingerprinting system have been made.

“People may not realize how important this is,” he added. “Our fingerprint examiners carry a monumental responsibility each time they sign off on a print analysis that results in the probable cause to make an arrest.

“The new fingerprint technology allows examiners to see details that could not be seen before,” he said.

Pissott said the staff is called to about 1,800 crime scenes annually.

“The men and women in this unit are highly trained professionals,” Mastronardy said. “With the help of the Freeholders we are upgrading the technology that will allow us to continue the outstanding work done here.”

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