The BCA gathers crime statistics to assist state and local agencies to identify criminal trends.

[6] Later the BCA was the first law enforcement agency in the United States to identify a suspect solely on DNA.

In 1969, the agency was moved under direction of the State Attorney General's Office to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

This includes crime scene processing, digital and multimedia evidence collection, DNA collection and processing, forensic firearm examination, fingerprint identification, Toxicology, Trace evidence, breath alcohol instrument calibration, and chemical testing.

The Minnesota Justice Information Services (MNJIS), manages information between sources of criminal justice data for law enforcement agencies and criminal investigation agencies to help solve crimes via statistics and analysis.