NEW YORK – Guns used in crime in New York City will be analyzed more quickly. That’s the goal of a first-of-its-kind unit in the city’s Office of Medical Examiner.
Dave Carlin of CBS2 has more on a new team of scientists expected to get DNA test results back in half the time.
On Thursday, CBS2 got a rare look inside labs at the ME Office. This is where forensic scientists process about 50,000 individual pieces of crime scene evidence a year relating to murder cases, sexual assault, property crimes, you name it.
Mayor Eric Adams was shown how it all works.
“Everyone knows we have the best lab on the planet and it’s getting better,” said Adams.
The mayor announced a $ 2.5 million unit there, with 24 newly hired criminals dedicated to DNA and guns.
New York City’s DNA Theft Crime Unit will be tasked with speeding up processing to catch offenders faster.
“Science is coming to get you and science will get you off the streets,” said Adams.
Extracting sweat or blood from a gun and identifying DNA takes a case to court with confidence, but the waiting time for results can be up to two months.
BACKGROUND: The Legal Aid Society sues New York City over what it says are illegal DNA searches
Having this new team dedicated to guns, while others focus on the other crimes, should cut the wait time in half, officials said.
“We will achieve a 30-day turnaround,” said one official at ME’s office.
With almost the entire office workforce gathered around it, the mayor said in terms of these lab results, faster is better.
“Slow tests stifled the judicial system,” said Adams. “We can’t allow these cases to stay open, so let’s do these tests.”
The mayor said it’s about speeding up justice for victims and getting lower crime rates for everyone.
Adams also said the unit will deliver results “faster than 90 percent of the nation’s jurisdictions.”
Dave Carlin serves as a correspondent for CBS2 News and covers breaking news stories and major events in the Three Province Area.
