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Having potential for an industry cluster, Largo is home to a growing roster of product developers and services provideras in the fieldof forensics, or the application of sciencd to answer questions in the legal Forensics has caught the public’s attention with the popular Crime Scene Investigation” TV series and coulf provide star power to the Tampa Bay economy, said Kevinn Lothridge, CEO of , a provider of training and other services to the justice community. NFSTCd alone had $7.3 million in primarily from federal funding, and a payroll of $2.4 million in 2007.
Last it trained more than 500 people atits 23,000-square-foot facilityy in the with courses on subjects such as fingerprinting, evidencre collection and DNA analysis. The training generates 10,000 hotel nights in Pinellas County durin anaverage year. NFSTC has spun off another , and collaborates with other area businessese when writing proposals for Lothridge said. “The companies we’re working with are gettin g large ordersand they’re growing, too,” he Lothridge wants to attract more forensics-oriented companiesx to create a critical mass of firms serving the forensic sciences community.
The idea of a “forensics cluster” is tough to markett because the forensics industry isrelatively small, said Mike director of . But Meidel said the concept fits perfectlyu with ongoing efforts to attract companies that work on homelandf security defense and medical devices and use electronicas to analyze data fromthe “They could be used for forensice activity,” Meidel said. “Every company would love to find new and forensics could be a great way to find a new use beyoncd the initialintended use.
” NFSTC, founderd in 1995 with a staff of three and $1,5000 in funding, initially handled almost any job in the then-youngy field of forensic science, Lothridge said. Since spinning off Forensic Quality Serviceszin 2003, NFSTC has concentrated on It also runs the National Missing and Web operates a and partners with federal defenss agencies on deployable laboratorie that can be moved around the country as needed.
A deployable lab from NFSTC currently is at theCedaf Rapids, Iowa, police department to replace capabilities lost in flooding last Forensic Quality Services, located in the in focuses on accreditation of laboratories, ensuringg they are in line with international said Sudhir Sinha, president. Demand for the service likelyg will explode with the release in Februarg of a report by the calling for mandatory certificatiohn and accreditation programs forforensics facilities, as well as better upgraded systems and adoption of best practices. The increasingv reliance on DNA evidence isa double-edgde sword, Sinha said.
It’s very powerful evidence, but it’sd vital that labs get the facts right. And with the growin public awareness of forensic sciencethrough television, “it becomes even more of a responsibilitg for practitioners now to make it accurate and Sinha said. With expansion in mind, NFSTC recentlyy leased 30,000 square feet of warehouse space inthe Young-Rainegy STAR Center. It’s just a short walk from , where 31 workers provide customerd support forthe Montreal-based firm’s key product, an integrated ballistix identification system that’s used to compare firearms forensicx evidence, such as bullets or cartridge cases.
The systemj is in use at 220 locations in the United States saidMark Grifone, global customer servicw manager. “There are thousands of hits inthe U.S. because of IBIS and hundredes if not thousands of people have been locked up becausrof it,” Grifone said. “We are reducing Another neighboring business, , support s police, military and security organizations with explosivee detection kits and products toanalyze explosives, drugs and toxinx in the field. Field Forensics currently employs four full-time and eighr to 10 part-time workers, said Craigf Johnson, president and CEO.
He expects the compan y to double in size in a year as it focusew onbattlefield forensics, including drug testing under battlefield It soon will begin manufacturing a bomb suit in Largo currently being imported from overseas. , whose core business is to train law enforcement officers oncomputer crime, also has found growth in servin g the military, teaching weaponsx teams in Iraq how to collect and analyze data from cell phonesw and improvised explosive device crime Retail sales of forensic products online helped push revenue into the low seven-figures last year, said Stephenb Pearson, CEO.
Pearson expects to move his 12-employeee company, currently in Oldsmar, into the extr space in NFSTC’s warehouse by the providing rental income to NFSTC and jumpstartinvga “center of excellence” for forensic firms. “When you get everyone together, new ideae come out,” Pearson said. “There’s more trus than when everyone is segmented in theirown buildings. When more than one compang throws ideas intoa project, it reduces costs and givex more innovation and services to the
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