It's a painstaking process.

"We have to extract the controlled substance from the tablet and we do that using various chemicals,” said criminalist Matthew Lepper.

Lepper was analyzing several substances on Monday.

"These are actually crushed prescription tablets,” he said.

The tablets are a controlled substance and are illegal if they're in the wrong hands. He was also checking for methamphetamine.

In short order, once equipment and personnel are all in place, every criminalist will work on a piece of a crime-related puzzle.

"My job is to comb things for hair,” said criminalist Scott Workman.

On Monday, Workman was testing the equipment using his own hair. He says you can tell a lot about what could have happened to a person just by a hair sample.

"You can tell if the hair has been shed naturally or if it’s been forcibly removed,” he said.

Each department is charged with a specific task. Criminalists Courtney Workman and Regan Lee examine body fluids.

"You are seeing into people's lives,” said Workman.

“Very personal things about people's lives, and so you are getting to see a lot of unusual things,” said Lee.

The lab is three stories and has state of the art equipment. Having a drug screening system in Springfield means the evidence no longer has to be driven to Jefferson City and cases can be handled much quicker.

Even swiping fingerprints from objects has become high tech. After using special chemicals, criminalists can even lift single fingerprints from money that is handled by countless people.

"Then we can work it in Photoshop and separate the background from the latent print,” said criminalist Rickie Sutton.

Although each step is tedious, these criminalists love what they do for not only the science but also what it can do to solve crimes.

"It's nice to help people, to help provide closure one way or the other,” said Scott Workman.

The crime lab has 27 employees. More workers could come as more funding becomes available.