La. Admin. Code tit. 55 § I-581

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section I-581 - Receiving and Sampling of Evidence

A. Evidence submitted for toxicological examination shall be labeled for identification, securely sealed, and submitted in a container appropriate for shipping and maintaining security. They shall have been taken with the contents of a blood and/or urine collection kit approved by the Louisiana State Police crime laboratory. Such kits shall be made available to all law enforcement agencies through the Louisiana State Police.

B. The kits shall contain no components which would interfere with the results of the test and each kit must be suitable for the purpose of collecting blood and/or urine for forensic toxicological determinations.

C. The sample taken for analysis should be refrigerated and delivered to a designated collection site within 24 hours following the end of the collecting officer's shift. It shall then be transported to the laboratory utilized for analysis at the earliest opportunity after collection, not to exceed 10 days.

D. After submitting the sample to the testing facility, specimens shall then be refrigerated in a designated evidence security area.

E. Following analysis, the evidence will be stored for a period of one year under refrigeration either at the testing facility or by the submitting agency. After the one-year storage period, the evidence may be destroyed. Evidence collected subsequent to law enforcement investigations and/or search warrant executions are subject to the aforementioned storage period and destruction policy. Additional storage duration and/or destruction criteria may be implemented by the testing facility or submitting agency.

La. Admin. Code tit. 55, § I-581

Promulgated by the Department of Public Safety, Office of State Police, LR 26:2625 (November 2000), amended LR 37:1416 (May 2011), Amended LR 4497 (1/1/2018).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 32:663.