Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and District Attorney Steve Mulroy submitted their proposal for a $5.5 million crime laboratory on Wednesday, adding details to the plan Mulroy first suggested more than one year ago.
Mulroy confirmed he and Harris proposed the $5.5 million facility in a post to the social media platform X on Wednesday, noting that the request was for a recurring cost to fund a “focused crime lab” that would address firearms, digital devices like phones, and DNA testing, in order for the prosecutor to “increase our solve rate” for a greater variety of crime committed in Memphis and Shelby County.
“This is not a replacement for the work already being done by the TBI. This is an enhancement to bridge the gap between the available supply of forensic testing and the high demand,” wrote Mulroy in his post to X.
According to the post, the focused lab would include ballistics testing for more cases than just homicide, as Shelby County’s current facility allows. It would also allow for the digital testing of cell phones and similar devices, as well as rapid DNA testing, which Mulroy’s post explained is “an emerging type of DNA testing” that can offer “same-day results” rather than the months required with older technology.
Today, I had the pleasure of joining @mayorleeharris in asking the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to provide $5.5 million in recurring funding for a focused crime lab in Shelby County. I want to thank Mayor Harris for his support and the County Commission for their interest… pic.twitter.com/djh4qhB8la
— Steve Mulroy (@SteveMulroy901) June 4, 2025
Mulroy previously suggested a crime lab be built in Memphis in January 2024, when he noted that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation used to operate a crime lab in Memphis until it moved to Jackson in 2021.
However, the formal request by Mulroy and Harris came shortly after FBI Director Kash Patel identified Memphis as the country’s “homicide capital” during a May interview, when he promised additional federal resources to the city.
“I didn’t know this until my confirmation process, but Memphis, Tennessee, is the homicide capital of America, per capita,” said Patel. “We have a problem there. We’re now addressing it. We’re rolling out one of our task forces to Tennessee.”
It also came just days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified Shelby County as a “sanctuary jurisdiction,” based on factors including, “compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”
While the DHS report expressed concern about Shelby County, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently retracted the findings of the Biden-era investigation into the Memphis Police Department, including its recommendation for the local police to enter into a costly consent decree with the federal government.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Forensics Lab Worker” by DC Department of Forensic Sciences.
Yeah, just throw more tax dollars down the hole. That’ll fix everything.
How about electing and appointing some smart people for a change?