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The DNA profiles were then added by MSP forensic scientists to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national database that allows for DNA profiles from open cases and convicted felons to be compared nationwide. Through Michigan's participation in the program, to date nearly 70,000 DNA profiles have been added to the state's CODIS database, making it one of the largest in the country. The grant was the third one in three years to be awarded to the MSP Forensic Science Division. A previous grant was used to process more than 1,200 of the 26,000 "no suspect" forensic cases at the MSP and the City of Detroit Crime Laboratories. Since January, the CODIS database has aided nearly 400 Michigan investigations and connected over 300 convicted offenders to open cases. In one instance, a CODIS match resulted in one suspect being connected to three unsolved rapes that occurred in 1993, 1995 and 1996. Investigators can expect to see more CODIS matches, resulting in more solved cases.
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The
Michigan State Police successfully completed a National Institute of Justice
(NIJ) pilot program resulting in the elimination of a projected 10-year
backlog of convicted felon samples. The pilot program, which began in
June 2003, provided federal funding to the MSP Forensic Science Division
to outsource 80,640 DNA samples for testing at a private laboratory: Bode
Technology Group of Springfield, VA.