Kurt J. Tempinski, 47, a veteran firearm and tool mark examiner with the Pa. State Police has joined the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office as a special county detective.

Tempinski, of Bethlehem Township, worked for the state police from 1991 to March of this year.

For almost 20 years, June 1, 1993, to March 1, 2013, Tempinski was with the state police Bureau of Forensic Services Investigations and Operational Support Division, Ballistics Section, where he was a forensic firearm and tool mark examiner.

He examined firearms used in crimes, did bullet and cartridge casing comparisons and identifications, performed gunshot residue analysis, made distance determinations, performed bullet trajectory analysis, and did tool mark examination and identification.

In addition, Tempinski trained and supervised firearm and tool mark examiners and did fire-arm instruction.

He worked in the Patrol Section from 1991-93 and was responsible for traffic accident investigation, traffic enforcement, criminal investigation, evidence collection and handling, court testimony and firearm instruction.

In his new position, Tempinski will continue to do firearm and tool mark examinations in Lehigh County cases.

He currently is working at Cetronia Ambulance Corps, 3939 Broadway, South Whitehall, the temporary home of the firearm and tool mark examination laboratory.

He will work in the Cetronia Ambulance and Lehigh County Joint Operations and Medico-Legal Forensics Center at Broadway and Parkway after it is built.

The center will house the ambulance corps, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office and various county public safety agencies.

With the state police, Tempinski analyzed evidence from Lehigh, Bucks, Berks, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.

"Now that Detective Tempinski will be handling only Lehigh County cases, this should result in a quicker turn-around from the time evidence is collected until the time the analysis is performed, which is likely to result in faster arrests," said Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.

Martin also expects evidence related to "shots fired" incidents will be analyzed where no arrest has been made.

The laboratory will have specialized equipment, such as a comparison microscope and a bullet recovery tank.

The cost of equipping the laboratory was paid with forfeiture funds contributed by the district attorney's office and the Allentown Police Department.

Tempinski has testified in numerous high-profile cases, including the cases of David Rapoport, George Hitcho Jr., Patricia Rorrer, Michael Gambler and Andrew Gesslein II.

He also testified in civil cases, such as the lawsuit filed by Casey Burns, the pregnant North Whitehall Township woman who was shot in the head by a hunter in 2004.

Tempinski served in the 744th Military Police Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve from 1993-2004, and had been deployed to combat zones in Kosovo and Iraq.

From 1987-93, he was with the 28th Military Police Company, Detachment 1, where he was a Master Weapons Instructor and Master Machine Gun Instructor.

He served with the 101st Military Police Company from 1984-87, during which he served a tour of duty in Egypt.

Tempinski graduated in 1990 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology.