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YCSO joins DPS’ rapid DNA testing program
When the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) began using RapidHIT ID instruments in 2014 on cases to quickly generate full forensic DNA profiles, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) reached out to the agency and expressed an interest in the system, even though it was still seen as an emerging technology.
On Wednesday – eight years later – YCSO announced that it has joined the DPS’ Rapid DNA Law Enforcement Program and has been chosen to operate the first remote site in the state outside of the Phoenix and
Tucson metropolitan areas.
Scott Rex, a crime laboratory manager with the Scientific Analysis Bureau (SAB), explained that DPS had always planned to expand the program and set up more remote testing sites, but was not able to do so until this fiscal year when the agency received $600,000 in funding from the Arizona Legislature to purchase four more systems.
“The program has been set up to train law enforcement personnel in the use of rapid DNA instruments, which basically allows certain DNA samples to be analyzed within two hours,” Rex said. “It is a great tool in the tool bag for YCSO and other area agencies. We are really excited to expand the program and it starts right here.”
The rapid DNA matching system has been very successful in Arizona so far, developing 240 investigative leads from approximately 650 cases across the state, including some in which a suspect who was previously unknown to investigators was identified.
In explaining how the system works, Rex said it will allow trained operators at the sheriff’s office to use a simple cheek swab from a potential suspect to create a full genetic DNA profile that can be compared to samples found at a crime scene while that person is still in custody.
That profile, in situations when no suspect is in custody, can also be compared to a stand-alone database maintained by DPS that contains convicted offender and arrestee samples from around the state.
“It is going to allow for potentially identifying who committed a particular crime very quickly,” Rex said. “It might also be a situation where a possible suspect is in custody, and they are able to determine whether they have the right person or the wrong person.”
YCSO Spokesperson Tania Pavlak said prior to Wednesday, if YCSO wanted to run a sample through the rapid DNA matching instrument they would have to take it to either Phoenix or Tucson and find an operator who was willing to process it for them, or send it to the state crime lab, which could take several weeks or months to get the results back.
“What may have taken days or weeks potentially, they can now get the information the same day the crime is committed,” Rex said.
Now YCSO has two investigators certified to use the rapid DNA instrument, with more scheduled to be trained.
“The YCSO is looking forward to using the Rapid DNA technology, which could immediately impact an investigation, such as link suspects with past crimes, collect and rapidly process crime scene samples for investigative leads, and significantly reduce the time to identify or eliminate a potential suspect,” Pavlak said.
Another benefit of YCSO being the first remote site to be set up under the DPS’ Rapid DNA Law Enforcement Program is that other Yuma-area area law enforcement agencies will be able to have DNA profiles generated from samples collected in their cases also.
“Now with their own testing site and trained operators, the YCSO and other agencies have the opportunity to be able to do the tests themselves, which just gives them more convenience and speeds up their ability to develop those investigative leads,” Rex said.
Three other remote rapid testing sites will be set up in Yavapai, Pinal and Cochise counties in the coming months.
The DPS’ SAB was also one of the first law enforcement agencies in the country to recognize the potential for Rapid DNA technology to generate leads for criminal investigations.