Tallahassee is officially the first city in the nation to automate a new program that could help solve cases using DNA collected during the booking process.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Leon County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that the first fully automated Rapid DNA collection process now being used at the Leon County Detention Facility.
Rapid DNA allows law enforcement to quickly search the DNA against unsolved crimes across the nation while the suspect is in custody during the booking process.
Florida laws require all felony arrestees and those charged with felonies to provide their DNA.
So how does it work? DNA taken from the arrestee is electronically submitted and automatically searched in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System to see if the DNA hits to an unsolved crime. The results are back in under two hours.
“Law enforcement officers know the value of DNA evidence in solving crimes and taking the most violent offenders off our streets,” said FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen. “There is no question that DNA testing has made Florida safer, and the use of Rapid DNA will ensure suspects aren’t released from jail before DNA search results come back."
Florida is one of five states selected by the FBI to participate in the Rapid DNA project and the only one to use a fully automated process. FDLE’s technology was approved by the FBI earlier this month and they will use data from the pilots to establish national standards for Rapid DNA.
“We believe this scientific DNA matching tool will greatly enhance all law enforcement agencies in Leon County and across our state to more effectively and efficiently solve crimes and bring the perpetrators of crime to justice," commented Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil.
FDLE began working with Leon County because Florida’s Combined DNA Index System is located in Tallahassee.
In 1990, Leon County Sheriff’s Office became the first law enforcement agency in Florida to submit a blood sample from a convicted felon for DNA testing into Florida’s DNA Database.