The fresno county sheriff's office proposes to implement the bureau of justice assistance FY24 formula DNA capacity enhancement for backlog reduction program

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $458,511 Formula Grant under the Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program (CFDA 16.036) to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. The grant funding will enable the Sheriff's Office to continue decreasing turnaround time and reducing the number of backlogged DNA cases within Fresno County, which has a population of over 1 million residents. Key activities include funding two DNA criminalist positions, providing training for the criminalists, and covering service contracts for DNA laboratory equipment. Expected outcomes are to keep the Sheriff's Office forensic laboratory staff current on DNA technologies, ensure proper equipment functioning, decrease DNA case turnaround time, and reduce the DNA case backlog. The grant period runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026.

The purpose is to continue decreasing turnaround time and reducing the number of backlogged DNA cases within the area serviced by the fresno county sheriff's office. The fresno county sheriff's office services fresno county, which is located in the central SAN joaquin valley and has a geographical area of 6,017 square miles.fresno county has an estimated population of 1,018,965 and is expected to grow 0.2 percent annually. The project activities include continuing to fund two DNA criminalist positions, send the DNA criminalists to train in order to meet the continuing education requirement as specified in the federal bureau of investigation quality assurance standards, and to pay for service contracts on DNA laboratory equipment.expected outcomes include keeping the fresno county sheriff's office forensic laboratory DNA criminalists abreast on current DNA technologies and advancements, ensuring the equipment used for testing DNA cases is in proper working order, decrease the turnaround time for DNA cases, and reduce the number of backlogged DNA cases.