Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said Monday that four crime labs would receive an extra $1.2 million in federal stimulus grants to help clear backlogs of DNA samples.
The governor, who has made expanding DNA testing a priority, said the federal money would make “our neighborhoods and our families safer.”
“DNA — our modern fingerprint — is increasingly allowing law enforcement across the country to take repeat violent offenders off our streets,” O’Malley said.
About $275,000 of the stimulus money will go toward the Montgomery County’s crime lab. County police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said the county had a backlog of 103 cases that needed DNA testing work at the county crime lab in Rockville.
Starks said the stimulus money would be used to outsource some of the testing and to pay for overtime of the half-dozen trained lab technicians who work at the crime lab. He said the county currently prioritizes which cases it tests, running evidence in violent cases before nonviolent crimes.
O’Malley supported a new law enacted this year that requires DNA samples be taken from people charged with attempting or committing violent crimes and burglaries, instead of taking samples only of convicted felons. O’Malley has said he would like to see the collection of DNA samples become as common as fingerprinting.
Since the new law took effect in January, the state has collected 10,877 samples, which resulted in 37 total “hits” on DNA databases and 10 arrests of “violent individuals,” the governor’s office said.
O’Malley also made it a priority to clear a backlog of 24,000 DNA samples that had built up at the Maryland State Police crime lab. About $375,000 in new money will go to that lab.
The Baltimore Police Department’s crime lab is also set to get $375,000. Earlier this year, an internal audit found that the lab was underfunded, and broken equipment and evidence were stored in rooms that were too warm, potentially ruining DNA samples.
Prince George’s County’s crime lab will get $209,798.
