Television shows such as "CSI" and "Crossing Jordan" seem to have taken crime investigation out of the realm of witnesses and line-ups and into the world of computers and DNA sequencers.

While that overstates the case, people are much more aware of how technology can be used to solve crimes, said Hermitage Police Capt. Ernest Marenchin.

"You see departments that don't have much but they do a lot," Marenchin said of TV crime fighters. "The shows do indicate what can be done with the proper collection of evidence."

Hermitage has filled its new Major Crime Scene/Forensic Collection Unit with a host of equipment that should help the city and other Mercer County police departments collect evidence properly.

The equipment has high-tech sounding names, such as a Bluemaxx Filter Forensic Light Kit, Mikrosil Casting and Impression, Latent Fingerprint Camera and Atomic Absorption Kit.

There is equipment to lift footprints and tire tracks, preliminarily determine kinds of fluids, including blood and semen, process hairs and fibers, document evidence, process fingerprints and test suspected drugs.

The van, replacing one that was more than a decade old and was donated by a family, is a $30,000 2002 Ford E-250 cargo van, the cost split between the city and the state, with the state grant obtained through Mercer County Regional Council of Governments.

Wal-Mart and Joy Cone Co. donated money for the van's detailing.

Equipping the van cost about $40,000, with $15,000 of that coming from a federal grant to buy a Krimsite Digital Imaging Kit. When it arrives, the kit will use ultraviolet light to detect and digitally photograph fingerprints, Marenchin said.

Marenchin and detectives John Piatek and Eric Jewell are qualified to use all the equipment, and agreements have been reached with other county police departments and the District Attorney's Office for the detectives and the van to go outside Hermitage and assist investigations of major crimes, such as murder, rape, burglary and traffic accidents.

"They call us if they need something done and they don't have the equipment or the expertise to do so," Marenchin said.

While the van contains equipment to collect and preliminarily identify certain kinds of evidence, much of it still needs to be sent to a crime lab for evaluation, Marenchin said.

"You still need to do a good job on the crime scene," he said. "Today, you can do a better job than you used to. The scientific equipment enhances what you can collect."

Marenchin said police owe it to not only the victims of crime but those accused of committing them the best job investigators can do.

"When what you do and what you collect affects a person's life, you should have the proper equipment," he said.