In one room, forensic technicians will shine ultraviolet lights on crime-scene evidence to spot traces of DNA. In another room, they'll stain fabrics with chemicals to locate blood, saliva and semen.

The new 1,800-square-foot Biological Processing Lab in Boca Raton will screen DNA evidence from crime scenes in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. It's the first time in the United States a group of cities has partnered to open a lab of this kind, police said.

The lab, which opens Monday, will test evidence before sending it to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, whose lab west of west Palm Beach is swamped with requests for DNA testing. The plan is to cut the turnaround time — often 12 months — to less than six months, officials said.

"What you're seeing here is the wave of the future," Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday. "It's about putting the bad guys in jail."

Preparing evidence for DNA testing takes the most time, said Cecelia Crouse, Sheriff's Office crime lab director. DNA evidence doesn't arrive at the lab in sealed cups or swabs, she said.

"We get the bedsheets, we get the clothing, we get the rape kits," Crouse said. "That's what takes time. That was the delay."

In recent years, DNA-testing technology has helped police across the country make arrests in rapes, murders and even property crimes. A shared law-enforcement database allows police to match DNA samples to offenders already in the system. The more the database grows, the more likely matches are made.

In February, for example, Boca Raton police arrested a 36-year-old man in a home robbery that happened five months earlier. DNA collected from a car and analyzed by the Sheriff's Office matched his.

In another case, blood samples collected at the scene of a Boca Raton home burglary in 2010 led to an arrest 10 months later, in August 2011. The robber had cut himself as he crawled in through a ripped window screen.

In the last three years, local police agencies realized and urgent need to cut the turnaround time for test results.

"By the time you get it, your criminal has already committed more crimes," said Caralee Daugherty, Boca Raton crime lab supervisor.

Daugherty will supervise two lab technicians screening DNA at the new lab, which is located in the Boca Raton Training Facility on Congress Avenue.

Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach built the lab with a $519,544 federal grant and their own match of $173,182. Boca Raton police will run the lab and the three departments will share expenses.

Thursday morning, after the ceremony, two lab technicians prepared to decontaminate and sterilize the facility before its Monday opening.

"We're going to put on the body suits and use bleach," said Ana Miller, one of the biological processing lab technicians. "We'll be here all day."