The Manitoba government is putting up $5.2 million for a new gun lab at the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters.
The aim is to speed up the processing and examination of firearms linked to crimes, and the lab will serve police agencies across the province.
Insp. Elton Hall, with the Winnipeg police, says the change means more work will be done within a matter of hours, instead of shipping firearms to a national lab—a process he says can take up to a year.
Hall says new personnel will be hired, including forensic examiners who require specialized training.
RCMP Insp. Paul Peddle says crimes involving firearms have jumped sharply in recent years and the new lab will mean more capacity to investigate crime….