Block Grant 2020DNBX0162

The City of Dayton Police Department (DPD) was awarded $500,000 under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance to prosecute unsolved violent cold cases from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025. The DPD Cold Case Unit will review old case files, re-analyze existing DNA evidence using updated technology, re-interview witnesses and victims, and work to obtain criminal charges and convictions. The funding will...

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office was awarded a $500,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program (CFDA 16.036). The funding will support the establishment of a dedicated Cold Case Task Force to investigate and prosecute violent crime cold cases where DNA from a suspect has been identified. The goals of the project are to focus on unsolved violent cold cases, enhance the use of...

This $500,000 federal Project Grant award from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program (CFDA 16.036) will support the Harris County Sheriff's Office and Harris County District Attorney's Office in Texas to increase homicide cold case prosecutions and decrease unsolved homicide cold cases. The grant funds will enable the Sheriff's Office to employ a full-time deputy to review, follow up, and document cold cases with...

The Westchester County District Attorney's Office was awarded $500,000 under the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance's DNA Backlog Reduction Program to add an additional prosecutor to its newly formed Cold Case Bureau. The Cold Case Bureau, currently staffed by one prosecutor, is responsible for reviewing over 100 unsolved homicide and violent crime cases, 27 of which have identified suspect DNA evidence. An additional prosecutor will allow the Bureau to further investigate...

The Texas Attorney General's Office received a $533,200 Project Grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program (CFDA 16.741) to support the state's Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit. The grant will provide additional resources to effectively investigate unsolved homicides referred to the unit from agencies across Texas, leading to an increase in the capacity of local departments to solve and prosecute violent crimes. Since 2021, the Cold Case and...

The County of Sacramento received a $500,000 project grant award from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program to expand its Cold Case DNA Prosecution Team. The team will increase its capacity to prosecute violent crime cold cases where DNA evidence has been obtained but no suspects have been identified, as well as decrease the number of cold cases where suspect DNA has been identified but not prosecuted....

The City of Houston Police Department was awarded $500,000 under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program by the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance to increase violent crime cold case prosecutions and reduce unresolved cases awaiting prosecution from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025. The goals of the Project Grant are to prosecute identified suspects in violent crime cold cases through DNA evidence and decrease the number of unresolved cases where suspect...

The City and County of Denver, District Attorney's Office (DDAO) received a $533,200 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program (CFDA 16.741). The grant funds the Denver Cold Case Collaborative, which investigates and prosecutes violent crime cold cases where suspect DNA profiles exist. Key activities supported by the award include maintaining a dedicated cold case prosecutor, providing forensic scientist and...

The Richmond County District Attorney's Office (RCDA) was awarded a $500,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) under the Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program (CFDA 16.036). The funding will be used to establish a cold case unit and increase time devoted to investigating approximately 100 violent crime cold cases where DNA from a suspect has already been identified. Specifically, RCDA will conduct an inventory of all unresolved...

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office (CCPO) was awarded $500,000 under the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance's DNA Backlog Reduction Program (CFDA 16.741) to utilize forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) in investigating unsolved homicides from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025. Specifically, the CCPO will leverage its existing expertise in DNA analysis and FGG to identify which of the 282 DNA profiles in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) with no...