Instant Id And More
The National Institute of Justice’s National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)-Rocky Mountain offers a course that gives students a glimpse of technology that they can expect to see in a few years.
Denver, Colo., Police Department Lt. Jonathyn Priest expects DNA ID to emerge in the years to come, and that DNA samples will be taken at birth and added to a database for identifying criminals and finding missing persons. Rather than hand a police officer a driver’s license, “you produce your finger or a saliva sample,” says Priest.
Existing technology is the primary focus of NLECTC, which also teaches about the latest methods of quantifying DNA; mitochondrial DNA profiling; SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) testing; and Y-STR (Y-chromosome short tandem repeat) testing.
Meanwhile, instructors Greggory LaBerge, chief DNA scientist of the Denver Police Department, and Phillip Danielson, a molecular biologist at the University of Denver, are studying potential medical genetics applications for the WAVE System from Transgenomic.
LaBerge stresses the importance of having investigators collect, preserve, and store samples properly. “Even if I have a million dollars worth of technology–if they screw up during the collection process, we’re not going to be able to help them with their case,” he says.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Law Enforcement Technology (03/05) Vol. 32, No. 3, P. 42 .