An important objective of the ST. Louis county police crime laboratory is to provide more efficient processing to reduce or at least maintain turnaround time and increase the number of forensic DNA…

The St. Louis County Crime Laboratory in Missouri will use a $177,301 Formula Grant award from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance to maintain three full-time positions for biology/DNA analysis and DNA technician work. Funded through the DNA Backlog Reduction Program (CFDA 16.741), this funding will assist the laboratory in completing approximately 4,000 case analyses over a 24-month period ending September 2023, with around 1,700 of those cases attributed to this grant. The laboratory serves over one million citizens and provides forensic services to the St. Louis County Police Department and 90 municipalities, 56 of which have their own police departments. Maintaining these positions will help the lab to more efficiently process DNA samples, reduce turnaround times, and decrease its case backlog despite ongoing high submission volumes that outpace its completion rates.

An important objective of the ST. Louis county police crime laboratory is to provide more efficient processing to reduce or at least maintain turnaround time and increase the number of forensic DNA samples processed. The laboratory serves more than one million citizens and provides services to the ST. Louis county police department as well as 90 municipalities, 56 which have their own police department. The biology/DNA unit within the crime laboratory continually implements workflow changes and implements new technologies when funding allows yet the sample submissions still outpace the rate of completion which can negatively impact backlog reduction. Grant funding provided by the 2021 DNA capacity enhancement and backlog reduction program will be used to maintain two full-time biology/DNA analyst positions and a DNA technician position. The ST. Louis county crime laboratory expects to complete approximately 4000 cases total (approximately 1,700 of those cases attributed to grant funding) over the award period of 24 months.