Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2024, $3,243,893)
The Texas Department of Public Safety faces challenges completing analysis of non-sexual assault evidence since the passage of Government Code 420.042 which requires the analysis of sexual assault evidence in 90 days. The Department has met that expectation but doing so resulted in the defacto de-prioritization of other case types due to resourcing. In combination, over the last two state fiscal years, there has been a 13 percent increase in submissions from law enforcement agencies for forensic biology related analysis. As the size of the Texas forensic sample index in Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) increases, the number of offender hits increase which requires match verification in the database lab. Due to inflation, costs related to testing in both database and casework samples (such as equipment and software) have increased and are becoming financially out of reach without the support of federal grant funding.
In this grant application, funds are being requested to aid in meeting the goals of processing crime scene samples for CODIS entry, processing database samples for CODIS entry, and for capacity enhancement in both areas.
The objectives to meet the goal of processing crime scene samples for CODIS entry include: the continued employment of fourteen grant funded forensic biology/DNA analysts and laboratory technicians, providing overtime funding for DNA analysts, and to continue the renewal of our probabilistic genotyping software licensing. To meet the goal of processing database samples for CODIS entry includes the provision of overtime for our CODIS DNA personnel to process eligible database samples that are over 30 days.
Funds are requested to increase capacity to process crime scene and database samples for CODIS entry, and the associated objectives include continued employment of three Assistant Technical Leaders and a Research and Development Program Specialist, provide overtime funding to complete validation of equipment and training, and allow for travel/training for continued education and licensing compliance.