Mississippi Lab team trains police in Belize
Kathryn Moyse performs tasks at the Scales Biological Laboratory in Brandon. Lab staff recently trained police in Belize.
A Rankin Mississippi-based biological laboratory specializes in one main function: identification through DNA. Scales Biological Laboratory’s team helps law enforcement officials solve crimes throughout the U.S., but on a recent trip to Belize, the three-person team brought DNA technology to Central America.
The goal was to teach DNA testing to Belize’s national police, laboratory director Bo Scales said. “They have very little in the way of crime fighting – no guns and flashlights hardly,” he said. “We were thinking Belize like you see on a cruise. It wasn’t exactly like that.”
The lab team spent a week in November teaching techniques from the basics to the most sophisticated, Scales said. Included in the lessons were DNA collection, preservation and testing. “I think they walked away with a good bit of information,” he said of his peers in Belize.
It could be a while before the Belize national police use DNA testing to solve crimes, but it will happen eventually, he said. “When there’s a high-profile case, that’s when they’ll say we’ll go with DNA,” he said. His wife, Barbie Scales, said the group was treated royally in Belize. “The people out in the public knew who we were,” she said.
“When we were at the restaurants, they would ask if we were the DNA team. They were so gracious to us.” The team would do it again, Bo Scales said, saying he enjoyed helping.
The Scales Biological Lab helps numerous law enforcement agencies in Mississippi. Of the state’s 82 counties, the biological lab team has assisted about 65, Barbie Scales said.
DNA can be extracted from a weapon, and the technology has advanced significantly, she said. “What once took two to four tubes of blood, now we can do in less than a drop,” she said. “It’s quicker and much more powerful.” The lab also conducts paternity tests and identifies remains of unknown people.
The lab has been in operation for 32 years and has been testing DNA for 20. In those years, the laboratory has reviewed 17,000 cases, Bo Scales said. Source: Clarion Ledger
