For Immediate Release:
Monday, May 13, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today hired Amanda Thompson to serve as director of the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory. Thompson, who has served as the assistant director of administrative operations at the Lab since 2016, was hired after a nationwide search and succeeds Interim Director Leslie Cooley Dismukes.

“Amanda has been an integral part of the Crime Lab for more than two decades, and I know she’ll do incredible work as director,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “She will continue to lead the state’s efforts to use science to deliver justice.”

Thompson is a North Carolina native and began her career with the Lab in 2000 as a DNA database analyst. She also served as a forensic scientist, forensic scientist supervisor, and became forensic scientist manager of the DNA Database section in 2013. In that role, she managed sample processing and analysis related to the CODIS DNA database.

As assistant director, Thompson helped lead the work to end North Carolina’s backlog of untested older sexual assault kits. She also led renovations to the Raleigh and Triad Crime Lab’s drug toxicology sections to help more efficiently process drug analysis as North Carolina responds to the fentanyl crisis.

The Crime Lab operates in three locations in North Carolina – Raleigh, Edneyville, and Greensboro. The Lab examines evidence related to criminal investigations free of charge to any North Carolina public law enforcement agency, including local, state, federal, military, and railroad police organizations.

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