Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2024, $1,002,882)
The Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratories (KSPFL) has provided DNA analysis to the Commonwealth of Kentucky since 1989. Current evaluations identified a continued need for the following: to purchase reagents utilized in DNA analysis in the casework and database sections; additional analytical time (overtime) dedicated to processing cases in the casework section; to purchase a service agreement extension for three Hamilton instruments (high throughput instruments, two Autolys and one STARlet) to ensure that casework processing is not stalled due to instrumentation breakdowns; to outsource a portion of the backlogged cases (up to 100) which have been partially analyzed with previous methods; to purchase Offender Collection Kits; and for analysts to attend workshops and training to stay abreast of new advances and techniques in the forensic biology field as the topics relate to both casework and database processing.
By providing high throughput procedures, equipment, overtime hours, reagents, service agreements, instrument lease, software license purchase, offender kits, and training opportunities the KSPFL casework and database sections anticipate that the turnaround time will decrease along with the number of backlogged cases.