August 31, 2004

Lansing - The Michigan State Police (MSP) successfully completed a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) pilot program resulting in the elimination of a projected 10-year DNA backlog of convicted felon samples. The pilot program, which began in June 2003, provided $3,385,800 in federal funding to the MSP Forensic Science Division to outsource 80,640 DNA samples for testing at a private laboratory, Bode Technology Group of Springfield, Va.

The DNA profiles were then added by MSP forensic scientists to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national database that allows for DNA profiles from open cases and convicted felons to be compared nationwide.  Through Michigan’s participation in the program, to date nearly 70,000 DNA profiles have been added to the state’s CODIS database, making it one of the largest in the country.

“The elimination of the DNA backlog is good news for Michigan because it means law enforcement has a greater chance of connecting criminals to previously unsolved crimes or linking previously unrelated crimes to a single suspect,” said Colonel Tadarial J. Sturdivant, director of the Michigan State Police.  “The more samples in the state’s database, the more likely investigators will make a match and either remove a dangerous criminal from the streets or keep one behind bars.”

This grant was the third federal grant in three years awarded to the MSP Forensic Science Division.  In September 2002, MSP was awarded a $1.4 million grant from the NIJ to support efforts to analyze the state’s DNA caseload.  The grant was used to process more than 1,200 of the 26,000 “no-suspect” forensic cases at the MSP and the City of Detroit Crime Laboratories.  A 2001 grant for $717,900 from the NIJ helped to clear a backlog of CODIS samples in 2001.

Since January, the CODIS database has aided nearly 400 Michigan investigations and connected over 300 convicted offenders to open cases.  In one instance, a CODIS match resulted in one suspect being connected to three unsolved rapes that occurred in 1993, 1995 and 1996.

“As the database continues to grow, investigators can expect to see more CODIS matches resulting in more solved cases,” Sturdivant added.

Read more press releases from the Michigan State Police.