The Brief
- The King County Sheriff’s Office has acquired a $230,000 Rapid DNA machine that can process crime scene evidence in approximately 90 minutes, a task that previously took weeks or months at the state crime lab.
- By using the machine to identify “presumptive positive” matches locally, the department expects to save significant taxpayer money by reducing the volume of evidence sent to the state for costly manual testing.
- Funded entirely by federal grants, the technology is currently in a testing phase and is scheduled to be integrated into lower-level felony investigations within the next few weeks.
SEATTLE – The King County Sheriff’s Office is investing in new DNA technology to speed up the crime solving process.
The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab processes thousands of DNA samples every year. According to officials with WSP, about 12,584 forensic DNA samples from case work and 6,300 DNA database samples are processed every year.
With new technology, the King County Sheriff’s Office is hoping to cut down on the time and cost to get DNA samples tested.…