The 56,000 square foot facility to be built just north of the Blue Earth County Justice Center is expected to save local departments time and resources while improving response times in critical investigations. It is planned to be fully operational in early 2027.”For my office, this is a great addition,” said Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson. “This should result in speedier turnaround times for criminal investigations. Not only the proximity, but the additional staffing should clear up some of the congestion we now have for evidence testing.”

New Ulm Police Investigator T. J. Ibberson said the new facility should make things a lot more efficient and less time-consuming for things like evidence and technology that go to St. Paul now.

New Ulm Police Senior Investigator Chris Moellenhoff said the Mankato facility would save police from driving more than two hours to St. Paul.

“With some cases, we have physical evidence we can’t mail, so we drive to St. Paul. Sometimes we have locked evidence like cell phones. The BCA has more equipment to work with them,” he said. “With a Mankato lab, we could drive urine or blood samples for DWI cases instead of using certified mail to St. Paul.”

Brown County Sheriff Jason Seidl said he thinks the new facility will be good for Southern Minnesota and the entire state.

“Instead of taking up most of the day driving to St. Paul and back with evidence, we can go to Mankato in 35 minutes,” said Seidl. “There should be a lot of scientists and lab technicians there. The response time to law enforcement should be much faster too.”

“Funding this facility was a top priority last legislative session. I’m proud of this investment to keep Minnesota one of the safest states in the nation,” said Walz. “By giving law enforcement the tools and technology they need, we’re strengthening our communities’ public safety responses today and ensuring Minnesota remains a safe state for generations to come.”

“This new facility will enable us to strengthen our services to southern Minnesota, but the entire state will benefit,” said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans. “Adding a third BCA lab will reduce the caseload for all our labs, allowed us to process evidence faster and help agencies solve crimes faster.”

The facility is expected to include 50 agents and 150 employees to do evidence testing, cyber crime investigations and financial forensics.

The new facility would also be used for law enforcement training, criminal investigative assistance, drug chemistry, and biology/DNA.

Minnesota law enforcement services demand is at an all-time high, according to the BCA website. In the last five years, cybercrime tips involving exploited children are up 353%. Digital evidence, increased by 10% over the past three years. Substance evidence submissions have more than doubled since 2010, with fentanyl coming a significant public safety threat.

The BCA partners with the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, plus state and local criminal justice agencies on investigations, Amber Alerts, Crime Alerts, and criminal justice data.

Future priorities include backlog reduction efforts to achieve a lab-wide, 90-day turnaround time goal.