South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 73 - SOUTH CAROLINA LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION
Article 6 - UNIFORM PROCEDURES FOR HANDLING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES
Section 73-110 - Duties of Criminalists

A. The criminalist shall safeguard or cause to be safeguarded all Initial Custody and Subsequent Change of Custody Forms which accompany the controlled substance evidence submitted for scientific analysis. These Forms shall be made available upon request to the Solicitor.

B. The examining criminalist shall carefully examine all sealed SLED Drug Evidence Security Envelopes which are transmitted to the Forensic Laboratory. The criminalist shall note any damage, imperfection, or indication of tampering evident on the SLED Drug Evidence Security Envelope.

C. Criminalists shall open the SLED Drug Evidence Security Envelope only by cutting the bottom of the envelope and shall place an identifying mark on each envelope.

D. The criminalist shall take possession of suspected controlled substance evidence and cause such evidence to be accurately described, weighed, and/or counted and an inventory thereof prepared.

E. The criminalist shall perform physical and/or chemical testing on the controlled substance evidence to determine qualitatively either the indication of or the confirmation of controlled substance(s).

F. After the conclusion of all Forensic Laboratory analyses, the criminalist shall re-package, re-seal, and mark the remaining controlled substance evidence in a manner such that surreptitious tampering with or alteration of the controlled substance evidence can be detected.

G. After the conclusion of Forensic Laboratory analysis and re-packaging, the criminalist shall return or cause to be returned to the submitting law enforcement agency all remaining controlled substance evidence.

H. If controlled substance(s) were transmitted to the Forensic Laboratory in a SLED Drug Evidence Security Envelope, criminalists shall return or cause to be returned the SLED Drug Evidence Security Envelope together with the controlled substance(s) that were received therein.

I. At any time before or after the conclusion of Forensic Laboratory analysis, upon receipt of a written authorization signed by the chief law enforcement official of the seizing agency or his or her designee, the criminalist shall destroy or cause to be destroyed the controlled substance evidence in a manner prescribed elsewhere in this article. The written authorization for destruction must set forth:

J. At any time before the commencement of Forensic Laboratory analysis, the chief law enforcement officer of the seizing agency or his or her designee may request in writing the return of any controlled substance evidence submitted for chemical analysis. The criminalist shall return or cause to be returned any controlled substance evidence so requested and need not weigh, count, or inventory the contents of a sealed container prior to its return