DNA Critical to Stranger Rape Cases

I found this article to be very interesting by Don Pierce.
He is the executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
He was a GUEST COLUMNIST for Seattle Post-Intelligencer Newspaper, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/

Most of us have seen the inner workings of a forensic crime lab, at least on television. The detectives bring DNA evidence from a crime scene in to a lab that usually turns around the analysis in about a day, or in a 60-minute program. Unfortunately, that isn't the case in real life.

DNA evidence has proved to be effective in pursuing and prosecuting crimes. The backlog of DNA samples awaiting testing at state labs illustrates the sad and ironic twist that those labs are victims of their own success.

Bogged down with thousands of samples to test, priority is given to the samples that are evidence in an upcoming trial. If the sample has a court date, the sample is moved to the front of the line.

It's tragic that Washington state averages about 200 stranger rapes a year that have no immediate suspect, therefore, no court date to accelerate the timeline for testing of DNA samples.

Ever since DNA technology has been available to law enforcement, there has been a backlog; that is nothing new. In this state there is now an alternative to the backlogs.

The Stranger Rape DNA Project, managed by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, combines two things we know work, DNA evidence and speed. The program tests DNA kits from stranger rapes in 30 days or less. That expedites the investigation for the victim, the victim's family and the community at large.

When a stranger rape occurs in this state, our organization immediately works with the local law enforcement agency to ensure the rape kit is on a plane to a lab in Dallas. Once there, it receives priority DNA testing by Orchid Cellmark, a private DNA testing laboratory that is able to guarantee results within 30 days. The test results are then given to the Washington State Patrol to be compared with state and national DNA databases.