Landmark DNA initiative to provide critical forensic evidence results even more quickly and efficiently      

Innovative DNA Institute and major expansion of existing police lab space will enable state to perform all DNA analysis in-house

[FEB. 14, 2006]  CHICAGO -- In Wednesday's annual state budget address, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich will launch an aggressive new DNA initiative that will put the Illinois State Police on track to perform all forensic DNA analysis in-house, where work can be done more quickly and to the highest quality standards. By expanding lab capacity, continuing to hire additional forensic scientists and establishing an innovative new DNA Institute for recruiting and training a steady flow of forensic experts, the police agency will build on the significant progress made under the Blagojevich administration and meet the ultimate goal of eliminating reliance on outside labs.

"As technology and scientific capabilities grow, DNA evidence is becoming an even more critical piece of our justice system," Blagojevich said. "Getting results quickly can be key to the investigative process. It can mean ruling out innocent suspects, making a clear case against the guilty or finding before-unknown criminal patterns. We increased funding for DNA work in the last three years to dramatically reduce the time it takes for law enforcement to get results. But in order to achieve the shortest turnaround time and the highest quality of work in the long run, we need to give our state police the resources to do all DNA analysis in their own labs. That means adding space to existing labs as well as putting a program in place to ensure we have an adequate supply of well-trained scientists to do the work."

Blagojevich is proposing the creation of a DNA Institute in partnership with one or more state universities. Students will be able to apply for scholarships to attend the graduate-level forensic science program, where they will receive top-notch training and have the opportunity to participate in paid internships within the Illinois State Police lab system. The scholarships would carry a requirement that upon graduation, scientists must work in Illinois forensic labs for at least four years. The governor's budget for fiscal 2007 will include $500,000 for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to provide up to 15 scholarships in the 2006-2007 school year.

The police agency currently struggles to retain well-trained forensic scientists, who are heavily recruited to take higher paying positions with private labs. Of the 15 new forensic recruits hired and put into training in the spring of 2004, five have already left the state police. Through the new DNA Institute, the state police will partner with a university to provide graduate students with two years of forensics training, including internship work in state police labs, while they're in school, so they are fully prepared to begin working upon graduation, rather than putting them through up to two years of training when they are hired.

In addition to establishing the new institute, the governor will significantly expand capacity at the state police laboratory in Chicago and the CODIS laboratory in Springfield. The fiscal 2007 budget will include $1.8 million for the planning and design of the $17 million project. The budget will also include funding to hire eight more forensic scientists for state police labs.

When Blagojevich entered office in January of 2003, it took the Illinois State Police an average of 10 months to process a forensic sample. From 2004 through 2006, the governor provided an additional $7.3 million to hire more forensic scientists and outsource a portion of the backlogged cases. As a result, processing time was reduced to under 30 days this past summer. But after an unanticipated influx of old cases from the Chicago Police Department, delays with the outside labs and the cancellation of a contract with one of the nation's leading outside labs because of unacceptably high error rates, the current processing time is about 80 days. State officials estimate they will achieve the 30-day turnaround goal again by this summer.

With the expanded lab space and consistent supply of trained scientists from the DNA Institute, the police agency will be able to analyze all DNA samples in-house. It costs approximately $2,100 to analyze a DNA sample in-house, compared with $2,700 to outsource a case. At least 3 percent of outsourced cases have to be re-tested in state labs as part of the quality assurance program. Not only will in-house processing reduce the average cost for DNA analysis, it will also cut down on the turnaround time and provide greater quality assurance over the entire process.

[News release from the governor's office]