County, State Break Ground on Forensic Science Center

Center for Forensic Science and Protective Medicine groundbreaking. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

State and local officials gathered at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center Friday to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new $226 million forensic science facility.

The Center for Forensic Science and Protective Medicine is being built to house the county’s Office of Medical Examiner and Office of Emergency Management and the state’s Department of Justice Milwaukee Crime Lab. In addition, Versiti, a nonprofit blood and organ donation company, plans to relocate its Organ Procurement Organization and Tissue Bank to the new facility.

The four-story, 200,000-square-foot facility is being constructed on a 7.6-acre parcel on the south end of the regional medical center, near the intersection of W. Wisconsin Ave. and N. 94th St. The building is expected to open in spring 2025.

The building will provide highly specialized facilities custom-built for the needs of the medical examiner and the crime lab, both of which have been operating out of aging facilities that were not built for their current use. The county’s medical examiner’s office is at least part of a former downtown hospital complex. The state crime lab is currently operating out of a former grocery store, 1578 S. 11th St., retrofitted as a laboratory in the early 1980s. It constraints the lab’s scientific capacities, according to the DOJ.

“Efforts to build a new crime lab in the Milwaukee area began well before I was first sworn in as Attorney General, and I’m thrilled that we’re now able to put shovels in the ground to get this done,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “My top priority is public safety, and ensuring the state crime labs have the facilities they need to keep up with scientific and technological advancements will help with the crucial work of keeping our communities safe.”

The medical examiner’s office has made it difficult to hire and retain forensic pathologists. There is a nationwide shortage of the physicians nationally, and the conditions of the current office have not proven inviting. Former medical examiner Dr. Brian L. Peterson once said, “You can walk into our front lobby and smell a decomposed body on a lot of days.”

Officials hope, and expect, that the new, state-of-the-art facilities and location on the grounds of the regional medical center in Wauwatosa will help the Medical Examiner’s Office attract and retain talent. The staffing trouble has challenged the office’s ability to keep up with its workload

“This facility has long been a priority for Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin,” County Executive David Crowley said in a statement, adding that the new building will allow for greater collaboration with the state, Versiti and the medical college to advance the county’s strategic mission of becoming the healthiest county in Wisconsin.

“Because, when we come together with our ideas, with our expertise, and with our resources, we can do big things that benefit those we serve,” Crowley said.

The county began working on the project more than five years ago. In 2023, the county board approved the issue of approximately $63 million in debt to help the county finance its $127 million portion of the development. The rest of the funding comes from $40 million in state and local American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocations, $10 million in cash and a total of $15.1 million allocated through three consecutive county budgets between 2019 and 2021.

The building will be jointly owned by the county and the state, but it will sit on land owned by the Medical College of Wisconsin, which is holding the ground lease at no cost to the parties. The project is being constructed by CD Smith. It will be legally split into condominiums, with the county owning and maintaining a little over half of the building and the state and Versiti taking on the rest.

The state crime lab in Milwaukee has approximately 70 employees that conduct forensic analysis for toxicology, drug identification, biology/DNA analysis, DNA database, trace evidence analysis, firearms examination, tool-mark analysis, latent print examination, footwear analysis, ten print comparison, and forensic imaging and video analysis.

The medical examiner conducts autopsies and forensic investigations for all of Milwaukee County. The office also often takes cases from surrounding counties that do not have their own medical examiner.

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