Phoenix council approves HVAC and automation contract for police crime lab to protect evidence integrity

The Phoenix City Council on May 7 approved a contract to upgrade the Police Crime Laboratory’s heating, ventilation and air‑conditioning systems and building automation controls to preserve evidence integrity and laboratory function.

Council members and staff described the work as a technical but essential maintenance project for the separate lab facility that handles forensic analysis for the department. John Connell, the laboratory administrator, told the council, “The laboratory is a dedicated building. It's about a hundred thousand square feet. We have 74 authorized positions. ... About 25,000 requests per year come through.”

Councilwoman Hernandez pressed staff on the timing and budget, asking, “Why investing into this if we are moving buildings?” City staff responded that the crime lab is in a separate building that will remain in use even after the police department relocates, and that the project comes from the city’s major maintenance capital improvement budget. Public works director Felipe Moreno explained the funding structure and said major facilities work is prioritized from a citywide maintenance pot.

Lab staff explained the technical stakes. Connell and others told council that laboratory spaces require carefully controlled ventilation and pressure differentials to avoid contamination; if temperature or pressure controls fail, evidence could lose credibility. As Connell summarized, if environmental controls do not hold, “we run the risk of the evidence being discharged and unable to provide justice to victims.”

Council members from multiple districts stressed the lab’s role in both securing convictions and clearing the innocent. Councilman Robinson recalled a major investigation that “would not have been solved” without the lab’s work, and Councilman Waring noted the lab also helps clear wrongly suspected people.

The motion to approve the contract passed 7–1. During roll call Councilwoman Hernandez voted no; the other voting members voted yes. The contract will be paid from the public works capital improvement program’s major maintenance budget for city facilities.

The council did not require additional public engagement for this maintenance project; staff told the council that major maintenance items typically do not include a community engagement step. The contract award positions the laboratory to continue operating under the specialized ventilation and contamination‑control requirements staff described.