Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin has announced the county's digital forensics laboratory has received a $35,000 contribution from a foundation created to honor the memory of an Upper Saucon Township police officer, after whom the lab is named.

The Officer David M. Petzold Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization, made the contribution to the Officer David M. Petzold Digital Forensics Laboratory of Lehigh County, on the campus of DeSales University, Center Valley.

In 2011, the foundation contributed $64,000 to the lab and partnered with Lehigh County and the university in planning, developing and opening the lab in March 2011.

Petzold was struck and killed by a van when he was trying to remove a deer carcass from Route 309 in 2006.

Petzold was the Upper Saucon Township Police Department's first detective and a member of the State Police Computer Crimes Task Force.

The county lab is staffed by officers from various municipal police departments who are members of the Lehigh County Computer Crimes Task Force.

At the foundation's third annual Beyond the Badge celebration Nov. 10, at DeSales University, the foundation honored Upper Saucon Detective Joseph Pochron with its 2012 Beyond the Badge Award, which is given to law enforcement professionals who exceed expectations of their jobs and "don't hesitate to lend a hand without any expectation of reward or recognition," Kimberly Fritts, secretary and founding member of the foundation, said.

Pochron, who was a coworker of Petzold, is commanding officer of the task force.

The laboratory helps local and county law enforcement agencies to more efficiently and effectively collect electronic evidence by analyzing cell phones and computers in investigations of violent and nonviolent crimes.

The laboratory can enhance recordings of audio-visual equipment, such as video from surveillance cameras mounted in establishments and on streets.

Martin said the lab also is instrumental in investigations involving distributors and possessors of child pornography and other suspects having inappropriate and criminal online conversations with children.

During the first eight months of 2012, task force officers and the lab assisted 28 agencies with forensic analyses in 214 cases, according to Pochron.

Pochron was named Officer of the Year at the Lehigh County Chiefs of Police Association annual banquet Nov. 13.

At the banquet, Lehigh County First Assistant District Attorney Steven M. Luksa was given the Col. John K. Schafer Memorial Award, which is named after a former Pennsylvania State Police commissioner who had a 23-year career before dying of cancer in 1987.

Luksa, 46, of Center Valley, was appointed as first assistant district attorney in 2007.

He has worked in the District Attorney's Office since September 1996 and was an attorney in the Lehigh County Public Defender's Office from 1993 to 1996.

Martin also announced Air Products and Chemicals Inc., contributed $5,000 to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office Veterans' Mentor Program, started in 2011.

"Air Products' generous donation will help us to maintain the program that has so far been successful in helping Lehigh County veterans who are in the criminal justice system to remain arrest, drug and alcohol free and stay on a path to employment and stability," Martin said. "We are very proud of the group of mentors that we have and the outstanding work they have been able to accomplish with their mentees during the last year, and we appreciate the support of the community and Air Products.

"We hope to grow the program to meet the needs of more veterans, to connect them with necessary services and to help them to adjust to civilian life.

"The donation will help us to provide training for volunteer mentors and other assistance to aid them in their work, such as socials where they can meet and learn from each other."

There currently are 18 veterans who are mentors in the program.

Most of them are now working with veterans who have been charged with misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.