SEATTLE – The King County Police Department is investing in advanced DNA testing technology to expedite criminal investigations. This initiative aims to significantly reduce processing times and costs associated with analyzing DNA samples.
The Washington State Patrol’s Forensic Laboratory handles thousands of DNA samples annually, processing approximately 12,584 forensic DNA samples from ongoing investigations and 6,300 samples from its database.
With this new technology, the King County Police Department anticipates a substantial decrease in the time and expenses involved in DNA testing procedures. Previously, samples had to be sent to the state’s crime lab, a process that often took weeks or even months.
“Before this technology, DNA samples had to be sent to the state crime lab,” said Lieutenant Chris Leyba of the King County Police Department. “The previous process involved collecting all evidence and sending it out, which routinely took several weeks to months.”
The newly acquired Rapid DNA machines are capable of analyzing DNA evidence from crime scenes and providing preliminary results within approximately 90 minutes. The process is straightforward: a detective places the DNA sample into a cartridge and inserts it into the rapid testing machine. The user then enters the case number associated with the evidence, and the remaining steps are automated, delivering results within an hour and a half.
Lieutenant Leyba emphasized that the new technology will reduce both investigation time and costs, while also minimizing the number of samples needing to be sent to the state laboratory. “Instead of sending a thousand samples, we’ll only need to send around 100. This will save taxpayers thousands of dollars.”
The machines, costing $230,000 each, are fully funded through federal grants. Plans are underway to utilize remaining grant funds to purchase a similar machine. Having multiple rapid testing machines will enable faster processing speeds, particularly crucial depending on the location of incidents within King County.
The machines are currently in the testing phase and are expected to be integrated into smaller criminal investigations within the coming weeks.
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Source: Information for this story was obtained from an original report by Seattle reporter AJ Janavel.
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