The commonwealth of massachusetts state police crime laboratory (mspcl) forensic biology section is requesting funds from the bureau of justice assistance through the FY24 DNA capacity enhancement and…

The Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (MSPCL) Forensic Biology Section was awarded a $1,313,145 Formula Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) under the FY24 DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction (CEBR) Program (CFDA 16.036). The grant will enable the MSPCL to:

1. Send analysts to national and regional forensic science conferences to fulfill mandatory training requirements and stay current on new methods and technologies.
2. Purchase new equipment, reagents, and supplies to improve capacity, ensure compliance with standards, and reduce the DNA analysis backlog.
3. Outsource backlogged cases to external vendor laboratories for screening and DNA analysis, while maintaining the MSPCL's current workload.
4. Provide on-site and virtual training for all analysts to support continuing education.

The goal of this comprehensive federal grant program is to assist state and local forensic laboratories in enhancing their DNA testing capabilities, reducing processing backlogs, and improving the efficiency of forensic DNA analysis to support criminal investigations and prosecutions. The award will benefit Massachusetts law enforcement and the justice system, as well as crime victims, by generating investigative leads through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and providing forensic DNA evidence to support case prosecutions.

The commonwealth of massachusetts state police crime laboratory (mspcl) forensic biology section is requesting funds from the bureau of justice assistance through the FY24 DNA capacity enhancement and backlog reduction program. The mspcl will utilize funds from this program to allow more analysts the opportunity to attend national and regional conferences outside the commonwealth and to fulfill the mandated eight hours of training required by the federal bureau of investigation quality assurance guidelines; to purchase new equipment, reagents and supplies necessary to improve and support the sections current methods, ensure continued compliance with national standards, and increase overall casework capacity; and to support outsourcing cases to external vendor laboratories for screening and DNA analysis for backlog casework to be completed while maintaining the mspcls current workload. Funds for on-site and virtual training are also being requested to ensure continuing education opportunities are available for all analysts and allow the mspcl to tailor the topics to current and/or new methods and technologies. The mspcl aims to improve capacity, reduce casework backlog, and enter DNA profiles into combined DNA index system (codis).funds provided through this program will help support the mspcls continued goals to increase the DNA capacity of the forensic biology section, reduce the casework backlog, and improve the turnaround time of forensic biology cases while maintaining compliance with national standards. The beneficiaries of this grant are massachusetts local and state law enforcement officers and the justice system along with crime victims as each forensic biology case completed will assist in the pursuit of justice by generating investigative leads through the codis and forensic DNA support for case prosecution and this provides answers for crime victims and their families.