Special Constable Kevin Gelinas has worked with NBPS Forensic Unit since 2021.
Gelinas is one of four forensic officers that are part of the North Bay Police Service.
He believes his job got a little bit easier when the North Bay Police Service purchased a new retrofitted forensic van which was partially built in the OPP garages in Orillia.
"It can be used for anything from a break-and-enter to a homicide and anything in between," explained Gelinas.
"We are fully equipped to deal with anything from those scenes and basically we have got all our equipment here for crime scene management, evidence collection and anything we can possibly need. It has been a great addition to bolster the capabilities of the unit and allow us to be in a state-of-the-art facility and maximize what we can do for the city."
That includes collecting DNA, the preservation of fingerprint evidence, or any other items that need to be presented to the courts or aid in police investigations.
Scott Tod, North Bay's police chief, believes the new larger van brings with it a comfortable working space for forensic officers.
"It provides them a safe place to work in regardless of the weather conditions so it can be heated, it can be cooled," he said.
"It provides a new workspace for them and it is in line with what we try to do in our partnership with the OPP in adopting some of the similar practices they have for forensic identification. I see the OPP as being a premier part of forensic identification services in Canada and displaying the best practices that are available and we would like to adopt as much of that as we can."
Tod says the van came with a price tag of $75,000 and the North Bay Police forensic officers also have access to the North Bay OPP's forensic labs.
Chief Tod believes the benefits of the new forensic van are endless.
"So right now we can provide forensic services any time of the day and many days of the week, and that is beneficial to our front line when they arrive on a crime scene they are no longer solely responsible to collect evidence or to instruct the homeowner or business owner to protect an area of their environment," he said.
"We can provide services in a timely fashion, collect evidence in a timely fashion and hopefully process that information and evidence in a timely fashion."
