NCJ Number
230581
Journal
Forensic Magazine Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: February-March 2010 Pages: 19-22
Date Published
February 2010
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article examines how developing partnerships between private and public laboratories can reduce forensic casework backlogs.
Abstract
Partnerships between public and private labs can help reduce DNA analysis backlogs by providing the extra resources public labs often lack. Many law enforcement departments have successfully outsourced DNA analysis from all types of crime, past and present, including: violent crime, property crime, mass disasters, post-conviction cases, and cold cases. In particular, this study raises awareness of the benefits of performing DNA analysis on property crime evidence (a lower priority to other crime), and significantly increases demand for processing property crime evidence in DNA crime laboratories. Working with private laboratories, some public laboratories have improved their service and prevented countless crimes by reducing turnaround times, and many private laboratories have developed new tools like software and products that assist in improving efficiencies in the collection and processing of DNA evidence. Since there has been over a decade of partnerships between private and public DNA forensic laboratories, examples of these partnerships presented in this article serve to demonstrate what can be done when private and public laboratories work together.