jul 1, 1923 - July 1st, 1923: The first ever American crime lab is opened in Los Angeles by August Vollmer, an L.A. police chief. Rex Welsh is appointed as the department's first ever criminalist.

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Police chief August Vollmer assigns officer Rex Welsh to forensic duty and together they started a police-based crime lab that predated the FBI's. Rex Welsh is technically the first American criminalis, but as time progressed and the department grew, more employees were noted such as Ray Plinker and Leland Jones.

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