Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2002, $550,245)
Project Summary for 2002-DN-BX-K008
DNA analysis used in conjunction with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is a powerful investigative tool beginning at the crime scene with the collection of evidence and ending with a judicial conclusion. For CODIS to be truly effective and DNA to reach its full crime-solving potential, DNA databases must be populated with both offender profiles and DNA profiles from crime scene evidence. DNA is especially useful in cases where no suspect is known. DNA profiles obtained from evidence collected in cases where there is no suspect can be compared to local, State, and national DNA databases through CODIS for a match between the evidence and a convicted felon.
The City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque Police Department Crime Laboratory and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety will examine 785 no suspect cases using federal funding to pay for an outsourcing contract. All DNA analyses will be performed by a vendor laboratory with the resulting profiles returned to the State for review. The resulting DNA profiles will be entered into the forensic index section of their State DNA database to be compared to convicted offender indices. Perhaps 10% or more of these forensic profiles from unsolved crimes will find their solutions in the DNA profiles of the convicted offender samples currently populating CODIS.
ca/ncf