The geographic location of fresno county is approximately an equal distance between the major metropolitan areas of SAN francisco and LOS angeles in the central SAN joaquin valley

The County of Fresno, California was awarded $357,528 under the DNA Backlog Reduction Program (CFDA 16.741) Formula Grant to reduce forensic DNA case backlogs and turnaround times from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2024. The funding will support continued staffing of one criminalist position at the Fresno County Sheriff's Office Forensic Laboratory to perform STR analysis and reduce the backlog of over 10 unsolved homicide/rape cases requiring DNA examination. Additional activities include sending four laboratory staff to forensic science conferences for training, purchasing DNA pipettes and software/instrument maintenance to increase the laboratory's DNA analysis capacity. It is expected that these deliverables will decrease the number of days required to issue final DNA results to clients from 60-90 days to a reduced timeframe while also lowering the backlog of DNA cases.

From east to west, the county's boundaries extend 135 miles, encompassing a geographical area of 6,017 square miles with the coast mountain range to the west and the sierra nevada mountain range to the east. Fresno county has a population of 990,204 that is expected to grow 3% annually in the future. The fresno county sheriff's office forensic laboratory provides services for the fresno county sheriff's office. The forensic laboratory has four criminalists that are trained and qualified to perform STR analysis. Due to staffing needs and the growing demand for DNA analysis, the fresno county sheriff's office forensic laboratory needs to find a way to reduce backlogged DNA casework and increase our capacity. The sheriff's office has over 10 unsolved homicide/rape cases that need to be examined for potential DNA evidence. DNA cases can take from 60 to 90 days from request to final report, due to the size of our staff and the number of samples that detectives are requesting. The forensic laboratory is seeking $357,528 in federal funds to decrease the backlog/turnaround time and to increase the capacity of cases from the DNA unit. This will be accomplished by using grant funds to continue funding one criminalist position, send DNA four staff members to the 2024 ishi conferences, purchase of 87 DNA pipettes, maintenance service contracts for multiple laboratory instruments, 5 licenses and maintenance contracts for specialized software/computer systems and use funding for private fee for services vendors to reduce the number of backlogged DNA cases. The result will be a reduction in the number of days from request to issuing final DNA results to our clients and a reduction in the numbers of backlogged DNA cases.