Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the storyPHOENIX -- Near the corner of 7th Avenue and Washington Street is the City of Phoenix's latest tool to solve crimes.
The new Phoenix Police Department Crime Lab has about 120 employees and cost $35 million to build.
"This lab is one of, if not the most advanced crime labs in the country," said Crime Scene Section Supervisor Steve O'Dell while standing next to several tools used to analyze fingerprints.
Of the 120-employees, 37 are full time crime scene specialists who conduct field investigations processing crime scenes.
"It's unique, I certainly love my job, but yes, it's a little different, but we love to know we make a difference," said Crime Scene Specialist Laine Finlay.
Crime scene investigators are critical in solving crimes ranging from murder mysteries to fatal car crashes.
"A lot of detectives will say that we're the one's defending the victim," said Finlay.
It takes crime scene investigators an average of 10 hours to process a murder scene and 4 hours to process a non-homicide scene.
"And so far we've taken about 392,018 crime scene photos and completed more than 3,000 crime scene reports," said O'Dell.
One thing all of the crime scene technicians agree on is the fact that many people have the wrong impression about their work.
Some call it the "television effect."
"They think things are quick jobs, but pretty much nothing we do it quick, we have to be very careful and methodical," said Finlay.
"That plays into jury trials as well where they expect a lot of testing that may be unnecessary," said O'Dell. "Some of it is just not realistic or doesn't exist."
