Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2018, $150,000)
This grant will support ongoing casework capacity increases in the Forensic Biology/DNA Unit of the Anne Arundel County Police Department Crime Laboratory to reduce the overall number of DNA samples awaiting analysis.
Enhanced productivity and efficiency is expected to minimize the existing case backlog thereby decreasing the overall turnaround time for newly submitted Forensic Biology cases through the following objectives:
1. Retention of a full-time, temporary grant-funded Biology/DNA Laboratory Technician via salary funding. The Laboratory Technician will assist the Biology/DNA Unit with various laboratory duties including but not limited to, quality assurance and control, general housekeeping, reagent preparation, and administrative aide.
2. Funding for approximately five hundred (500) hours of overtime during the award period within the DNA unit.
3. Purchase laboratory instrumentation including a thermal cycler, laboratory consumables such as pipette tips, and specialized laboratory equipment (fume hoods, pH meter, water distillation, autoclave, laboratory glassware sterilizer, DNA-safe computer equipment).
The FY18 DNA Backlog Reduction Program grant award would also provide funding to retain the Biology/DNA Laboratory Technician as a W-2 FTE temporary County contract employee to assist the Biology/DNA unit with general laboratory duties including QA/QC, reagent preparation, administrative tasks, and general housekeeping. The support function provided by the position will aide in reducing the backlog.
The essential tasks performed by the Laboratory Technician are duties that cannot be readily accomplished by analysts without negatively impacting case turnaround times and throughput.
NCA/NCF