FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – According to News 6 partner News4JAX, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office now has the ability to get quicker results from DNA testing for people arrested for serious crimes, including felonies.
“When a suspect is brought into our facility, we begin fingerprinting them here,” said Sarah Radford, detention deputy at the Perry Hall Sheriff’s Inmate Detention Center. “If they are facing a felony charge that allows for DNA collection, we will be able to select the individual that allows for DNA collection.”
From there, a mouth swab test will be administered and sent by mail as usual, with results taking several months to come back.
Now, Flagler County is one of 11 county jails awarded a Rapid DNA Pilot Program grant to install the machine, so results are returned in just 90 minutes.
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The DNA collected by deputies is run through a machine that searches a database, and if the arrestee’s DNA is linked to a suspected crime, a notification is sent back to the investigating agency, which will then contact the Flagler County sheriff.
“The reason this is important is because FDLE has a backlog of cases, so if we can expedite DNA testing right now, it will help reduce that backlog,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley said.
The sheriff added that such rapid DNA matching would reduce the likelihood of jail inmates being released before facing charges elsewhere.
Law enforcement is calling it a game changer.
“That’s when you talk about the ability to solve an unknown suspect committing a crime. It could be a cold case that’s 30-40 years old. It could be a case that’s five years old. But this helps solve that case,” Staley said.
Clay County is also one of 11 counties awarded a grant to install the machines, and the county installed the technology earlier this month.
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