Kentucky Breaks Ground on $21M Regional Crime Lab and Medical Examiner Hub
A $21 million state-funded project is moving into construction at Northern Kentucky University, combining a reopened regional medical examiner office with an expanded Kentucky State Police crime laboratory.
Kentucky has moved a major regional forensic-services project from funding and planning into construction. State officials broke ground September 18 on a new Northern Kentucky medical examiner office and expanded Kentucky State Police crime laboratory at Northern Kentucky University, backed by $21 million in state funding secured during the 2024 legislative session.
From appropriation to construction
Kentucky's September 18 groundbreaking is the new implementation milestone. The $21 million funding was secured during the 2024 legislative session to renovate the former Highland Heights Civic Center, a 19,073-square-foot building at Northern Kentucky University, into a regional medical examiner office and crime lab.
The state expects the renovated facility to be ready for occupancy in early 2028.
Restoring a regional medical examiner office
The former Northern Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office closed in March 2018. Since then, cases from Northern Kentucky have been redirected elsewhere in the state, adding travel and caseload pressure to other regional offices.
The reopened office is expected to operate year-round and perform approximately 500 examinations annually. Kentucky says the regional location should reduce the need to transport deceased individuals 100 miles or more for examination while easing associated demands on families, coroners and law-enforcement agencies.
Expanded Kentucky State Police forensic capacity
The Kentucky State Police will relocate its current Northern Laboratory from Cold Spring into the renovated facility. The existing laboratory receives more than 3,000 evidence submissions each year, according to the state.
Kentucky says the new space will allow for additional personnel and modern resources intended to support forensic testing and criminal investigations across the region.
The project combines two justice-service functions — medicolegal death investigation and forensic evidence processing — in a single regional facility. The key news is not a new appropriation but the shift into physical implementation after years of planning and prior funding actions.
What to watch next
The next material milestones are construction progress, staffing, laboratory transition planning, final occupancy and the start of medical-examiner and crime-lab operations in the new facility. Any material change in scope, completion schedule or funding would warrant an update.
Official sources
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Sponsor Independent News →Editorial note: OACRA News & Policy Review is published by OACRA LLC, an independent private organization. OACRA is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Kentucky State Police or Northern Kentucky University. Funding figures and project descriptions are based on official Kentucky government materials reviewed September 22, 2026.
