Enhance DNA capacity and reduce the backlog at the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Division of Forensic Sciences is responsible for conducting DNA analysis for cases submitted by all state and local law enforcement in the State of Georgia. The major problem faced by the laboratory is insufficient state funding to support a staffing level necessary to address new casework analysis requests within 30 days of case submission.  

The goal of this project is to maintain current casework analysis staffing levels within the Forensic Biology discipline. This award will be used to fund salary and benefits for additional casework analysts and technicians hired using prior year Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction Program. Training has been completed for some and in various stages of progress for others. These positions are expected to be retained through grant funding unless a state funded position in forensic biology becomes available. This award will also be used to fund outsource analysis of evidence from approximately 50 backlogged requests for analysis. The evidence will be outsourced to a private laboratory with an existing contract agreement selected utilizing a competitive bidding process or a new laboratory will be found using the same competitive selection method.  

All grant funded personnel will transition onto this award when prior year funding has been exhausted. The number of grant funded personnel supported by the award could vary throughout the course of the award if grant funded personnel are able to transition into a state funded position or resign.

The expected outcomes of this project are the completion of at least 1,300 cases in-house by fully trained grant funded analysts; the completion of approximately 50 outsourced cases; the completion of approximately 160 additional DNA and serological requests using overtime; and support of mandatory continuing education of several analysts by funding registration and travel expenses. This project will also address bottlenecks in data analysis with the purchase of a MetaSystems Metafer Imaging System (with maintenance contract) for sperm screening, Qiacube Connect (with installation and training, custom protocol), HID VeritiPro™ Thermal Cycler (with 1 year AB RC Support Plus and Rapid Exchange), EZ2 Connect FX (with installation and training), SeqStudio Flex 24 HID (with desktop and 1 year extended warranty), and additional TrueAllele training for analysts in TrueAllele mixture data analysis software.