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OBTAINING A DNA PROFILE
Some more typical items received by laboratories that may contain DNA include imaglasses, chewing gum, envelopes, and blood. Technicians swab the material to obtain a DNA sample.
Regarding blood, said Douglas Hares, NDIS custodian, "If it's visible, if you can see a very small dot of blood, we are probably able to develop a DNA profile from it."
DNA can also be obtained from a hat headband, for example, or the trigger of a gun. "As long as there are cells from the skin, it's possible to get DNA," Hares said. "It all depends on trfe^ environmental conditions the sample has been exposed to. We have had good success with evidence in cases over 30 years old where we were able to obtain a full DNA profile."
The ACFEI would like to commend the FBI on their ongoing dedication to improving the field of forensics.
PART 1
The use of DNA - which carries individuals' unique genetic information - to help solve crimes has become such a fundamental tool for law enforcement that it's hard to believe this technique of matching unknown profiles to known offenders is a fairly recent phenomenon.
The FBI launched the National DNA Index System (NDIS) in 1998 - along with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) software to manage the program - and since that time it has become the world's largest repository of known offender DNA records. Last year, in partnership with local, state, and federal crime laboratories and law enforcement agencies, CODIS aided nearly 25,000 criminal investigations.
FBI.gov recently sat down with Douglas Hares, a PhD scientist at the FBI Laboratory who is the custodian of the National DNA Database.
Q: How did the Bureau come to play such a key role in using DNA to help solve crimes?
Hares: DNA technology was first introduced in criminal court cases around 1988. When the FBI saw the potential for exchanging and comparing DNA profiles to help solve crimes - crimes that might not be solved in any other way - the concept of a national program was born. In 1994, Congress passed the DNA Identification Act, which gave the...