BLANCHESTER — The Blanchester Police Department has entered into a one-year agreement with the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory in Dayton. Under the agreement, the Miami Valley lab will provide examination and analysis of evidence for the police department for $4,500 annually.

The entire cost will be paid from the Citizens for Adequate Policing (C.A.P.) Trust Fund established earlier this year through the donation of $50,000 by a Blanchester resident. No tax dollars will be spent.

“For the past 10 years we have sent all of our evidence to the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Identification laboratory in London, Ohio for examination,” said Chief Scott Reinbolt. “All work done by the BCI lab is done free of charge. However, as budget crises struck cities and villages across the state, more and more police agencies began sending their evidence to BCI for analysis, which has created a backlog, lengthy turnaround times, and restrictions on the depth and types of analysis available.

“While the Miami Valley lab is obviously more costly, their turnaround times are much quicker and their analysis are much less restricted, which is a benefit to everyone involved in a criminal investigation. Not only will we be able to more quickly identify someone responsible for a crime, but we will be able to more quickly eliminate an innocent party from any inquiry.”

Reinbolt said this arrangement would not be possible if not for the Citizens for Adequate Policing Trust Fund.

“Village council has cut the police department budget by 25 percent over the past five years,” he said. “Retaining the services of the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory would be beyond our means if it weren’t for the Trust Fund, and this seems an appropriate expenditure from the fund as the services of the lab will benefit a broad spectrum of the citizens of Blanchester.”