Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2024, $974,978)
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Department of Forensic Biology, serves as the public forensic laboratory for the city of New York and provides DNA testing on thousands of case submissions every year. In 2023 a total of 40,029 cuttings were submitted for extraction. This is a 13.9 percent increase in cuttings submitted compared to 2022. 192,275 samples were processed at all stages in the laboratory in 2023. This is a 14.1 percent increase in samples processed compared to 2022 and 5,963 test batches were processed in 2023. This is a 16.4 percent increase in the number of test batches processed compared to 2022.
The laboratory completed 10,791 case assignments in 2023. New matches occurred from all types of searches. All matches were dispositioned in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) software. The total number of profiles imported for 2023 was 5,786 and the total number of matches to be resolved and dispositioned was 5,502. Monthly statistics regarding the Local DNA Index System (LDIS) database have been published to the OCME public website since October 2020. These statistics are updated monthly.
To better serve our customers in the criminal justice community the Department of Forensic Biology’s 2024 goals are to increase the current capacity to 60 cases processed per day, reduce the turnaround time to under 45 days for crimes against people cases and to 30 days for firearms cases, and 90 days for property crime cases. The lab has a current backlog of 2,946 cases, at the time of this application, and an average year-to-date turnaround time of 90 days for all case types. The department has made significant progress within the last couple of years towards this goal, but with the increase in cases received in the laboratory and a reduction in available analysts training, funding is needed to help process the additional cases. The FY24 DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction program proposal aims to achieve productivity and timeliness of DNA testing by focusing on the following actions: increase available staff hours through overtime; purchase of supplies; continue to fund previous grant-funded positions; and reduce turnaround times.
It is expected that overtime and continued staff will result in additional assignments process. The overall goal is to further reduce the turnaround time in half within the 24 months of this grant period through process improvements and continued overtime and available supplies funding.