Crime Lab to start pilot DNA program

The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory is launching a new DNA profiling program that officials say will allow law enforcement to quickly determine if a person under felony arrest is connected to serious unsolved crimes.

The technology, referred to as rapid DNA, is expected to debut in a pilot program at booking facilities in two counties by mid-2024. While the program is still in its early stages, state officials are considering kick-starting it in Faulkner and Saline counties, said Miranda Crawford, who is helping to lead the program’s launch at the state Crime Lab.

After piloting the program for two years, state officials hope to expand it to other agencies across Arkansas.

Although other states including Louisiana have begun using or are planning to roll out rapid DNA testing, the technology will appear in Arkansas before many other states, Crawford said.

“Arkansas will definitely be one of the first, even starting next year,” she said.

The program was made possible by a new state law that authorizes rapid DNA testing for felony arrests. Act 392 passed with broad, bipartisan support in the Arkansas House and Senate during this year’s legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding, who sponsored the legislation, said rapid DNA testing will permit law enforcement “to have the information they need to make decisions much more quickly, whether that’s identifying a suspect or clearing the wrongly accused.”

Unlike DNA testing procedures currently in use — which may take days, weeks or even months to return a result — rapid DNA tests produce results in as little as 90 minutes, said Leding, of Fayetteville. This means law enforcement officials will be able to compare DNA taken from a person arrested for a felony offense with DNA profiles in a federal database while the arrested person is still in custody.

The act was named after Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old mother of two who was kidnapped and murdered while on a morning jog in Memphis last year.

Ashley Spence, founder of the DNA Justice Project, spoke in favor of the act during the session, saying rapid DNA testing could help law enforcement officials ensure required DNA samples are collected from people under felony arrest.

“We are missing people that in some cases are violent serial offenders, free to harm people today in our communities,” she told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Spence, a sexual assault victim who has advocated for DNA database programs across the country, said rapid DNA technology could help expedite justice for other victims, reduce offenders’ opportunity to flee, eliminate suspects quickly and help make informed bail and bond decisions.

To fund the pilot program, the Legislature approved an appropriation of more than $1.3 million. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin also has contributed $400,000 to the project.

“I received a request from the Department of Public Safety to help establish a rapid DNA testing program because it can play a critical role in helping solve homicide and sexual assault cases,” Griffin said in a written statement provided through a spokesperson. “I was pleased to be able to fund this request, which will assist law enforcement and the citizens they serve.”

Some advocacy organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union have raised concerns about the technology, contending it will place more sensitive information in government hands and could increase the risk of misidentification by returning inaccurate results.

Crawford said law enforcement agencies that use rapid DNA testing at booking facilities will not be able to access the DNA data they collect.

The agencies will only be notified if the DNA samples they gather match profiles within a special index of the Combined DNA Index System or CODIS, a nationwide database maintained by the FBI. This index contains profiles gathered from crime scenes of rapes, sexual assaults, homicides, terrorism and kidnapping, Crawford said.

“Once that DNA profile is developed it is only transmitted to us here at the laboratory to go into the CODIS system, which is just really like any other sample,” Crawford said.

Booking facilities using the technology also will be required to sign a memorandum of understanding acknowledging they won’t create their own database of DNA profiles by collecting information on their own.

Crawford also noted DNA samples collected at booking stations are only considered reference samples and are not admissible as evidence in court. If law enforcement officials are notified one of their samples generated a match, they have to gather a confirmatory sample that could be treated as evidence.

When it comes to selecting locations for the pilot program, Crawford said the State Crime Lab was looking for medium booking facilities. A large booking facility like the one in Pulaski County can churn through more samples than the pilot program could provide.

Before placing rapid DNA equipment in booking facilities, the State Crime Lab will have to receive the instruments and perform an internal validation. Among other tasks, state officials also will have to apply for authority to operate the equipment with the FBI, create training programs for the booking facility staff and update booking software.