Illicit Laboratory

If you need a chemist to respond to your crime scene, please call Chris Harrison at (501)626-8961 or Norman Kemper at (501)920-4075.

The Illicit Laboratory section, a subsection of the Forensic Chemistry section, assists law enforcement and the court system in three ways:

Crime Scene Investigation

Any Arkansas law enforcement agency may request the assistance of the Illicit Laboratory section in dealing with any crime scene investigation involving chemicals that are suspected of being used to manufacture a controlled substance. We have six chemists that are all clandestine laboratory certified by the Drug Enforcement Administration. We are on call 24 hours a day to assist any investigation, excluding the holidays listed on the holiday list at the link on the right.

Forensic Analysis

Any law enforcement investigation dealing with the chemicals used to manufacture a controlled substance can be submitted to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory. An Illicit Laboratory chemist will render the lab safe for submission to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory whereupon it will be analyzed to aid the criminal justice system in adjudicating criminal cases pertaining to the manufacture of a controlled substance.

Court Testimony

We testify in municipal, circuit, and federal court to the results of the forensic analysis. The most up to date technology is used in the analysis of cases submitted to the Illicit Laboratory section. This technology includes but is not limited to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, thin layer chromatography, energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence, fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry, ion chromatograph liquid chromatography, and microscopic examination.