Health & Fitness
Video-Bensalem Police Pilot 90 DNA Results Program
The Bensalem Township Police Department, in conjunction with Bode Technology, is launching a new initiative in the field of DNA testing. This pilot program known as “BodeHITS – Rapid Analysis” will be the first of its kind in the country for law enforcement.
Bensalem Township Police Department currently has its own local DNA database with over 6,000 DNA profiles consisting of evidence and reference/individual samples. Bensalem’s local DNA database has been in existence since 2010 and DNA testing and analysis has played a role in over 100 criminal investigations. Many of these cases with DNA evidence were property crimes where DNA testing was traditionally not feasible.
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Having a local database has guaranteed DNA analysis and results within a 30 day period. This turnaround time has led to the ability to investigate crimes much more efficiently, rather than waiting the six to nine months it would take to previously obtain DNA results. Bode Technology is located in Lorton, VA and currently maintains and analyzes all of Bensalem’s DNA profiles.
The BodeHITS-Rapid Analysis initiative will take DNA testing to the next level. This program will provide Bensalem Police the ability to have real time results with their DNA samples. The turnaround time for DNA results under this program is 90 minutes. The Rapid DNA testing implemented by Bode is the first of their kind in the field - in that it can test DNA evidence from a crime scene. Currently, there are several other police departments in the country evaluating rapid DNA instruments; however, those instruments are only validated for single source reference/individual samples. Additionally, those instruments only have the ability to test five samples per batch, whereas with BodeHITS- Rapid Analysis, the capacity is 18 samples per batch. This rapid program is also comparing all new DNA profiles to the already existing 6,000 DNA profiles in Bensalem’s local database. The goal is to generate near, real-time DNA matches to generate probable cause arrests from active criminals in active investigations.
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The BodeHITS-Rapid Analysis program with Bensalem is taking place at Bensalem Township Police headquarters. Bode Technology has equipped the police department with a forensic scientist and two pieces of standard laboratory equipment. Bode is also offering reach back support to review DNA HITS.
Press conference and demonstration on instituting the new system and its functionality was held on Tuesday November 19, 2013 at 1:00 PM.
“From the streets to results in 90 minutes”
