Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Obtains State-of-the-Art Rapid Evidence Screening Tool

BROOKSVILLE, FL – The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office has a new tool in the fight against crime. On September 10, 2020, the Forensics Unit received training on the Crime-lite ML PRO, a rapid-evidence screening tool. The HCSO is the first agency in the United States to receive this state-of-the-art equipment. 

The ML PRO has a fully integrated UV-Vis-IR illumination and an intelligent optics’ imagining system. The equipment can be used to detect the presence of bodily fluids, gunshot residue and locate trace evidence such as hairs and fibers among other evidence. 

If a bodily fluid is detected, a presumptive test is performed to indicate what that particular fluid may be. Once areas of interest are detected and documented, a report is then generated and uploaded into the case file.  This piece of equipment will play a vital role in criminal investigations.

“This light source will likely be used in our more violent and/or serious crimes. It will allow our Forensics team to quickly determine if an item has evidentiary value, where that evidence is located, and prioritize that item for further testing. I have no doubt that this piece of equipment will allow us to solve more crimes and/or solve them quicker then we have ever done in the past. This labor savings will allow our Forensics Team to spend even more quality time on our investigations.”

Sheriff Al Nienhuis