The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Science Division (WCSO-FSD) is pleased to announce the award of $400,000 in grant funding from the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety. This funding will allow the division to purchase a new LC‑MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography – Tandem Mass Spectrometry) instrument to be used in the Toxicology Section. The grant will allow the Forensic Science Division to perform comprehensive drug screening on 100% of blood samples submitted for driving under the influence (DUI) investigations for an entire year. The resulting data will be provided to the state to strengthen the understanding of drug‑impaired driving in Northern Nevada and to support future strategies aimed at reducing impaired‑driving incidents statewide. According to the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety, impaired driving remains one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities on Nevada roadways.
About the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office – Forensic Science Division:
The WCSO‑FSD provides forensic services, including DUI testing, to local, state, and federal agencies across 13 of Nevada’s 17 counties: Washoe, Carson City, Storey, Douglas, Lyon, Humboldt, Pershing, Churchill, Mineral, Lander, Elko, Eureka, and White Pine.
