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Reducing the DNA Backlog: Florida Involves Local Law Enforcement to Prescreen Evidence

NCJ Number
224062
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 35 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 10,12,14,16-18,20
Author(s)
Rebecca Kanable
Date Published
August 2008
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article discusses a pilot program established in Florida to reduce DNA backlog, in which local agencies screen evidentiary items before sending them to one of several regional laboratories to perform DNA analysis.
Abstract
Frustrated with the DNA backlog and turnaround time at its State laboratory, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office began construction on the first stand-alone DNA screening lab in 2007 in order to take on what is typically the most labor-intensive and backlog-causing process in a DNA laboratory; the screening process. Using its existing screening program for crime laboratories, the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) worked with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to create a model program in which local agencies would screen or prescreen potential evidence before the items are sent to one of several regional crime laboratories in Florida. This article discusses the implementation of acceptance guidelines which lessens the number of items coming into FDLE and the training of local law enforcement agencies to prescreen potential DNA evidence. The more law enforcement agencies, providing forensic services from various States, start prescreening items for DNA the more potential evidence does not need to wait on the bottleneck of the crime laboratory.