An internal Justice Department review published today concluded the FBI has "effectively eliminated" its backlog of DNA samples collected from federal arrestees, convicted offenders and non-U.S. citizens detained in the country.
The FBI collects and reviews DNA samples to aid law enforcement investigators who are working on unsolved cases. Last December, the FBI reported a backlog of 312,000 samples that had not been processed.
Investigators with the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General said that when they measured the backlog this May, it had fallen to about 14,000 samples. The FBI, the audit report said, has the ability to analyze 60,000 samples a month.
The report said the FBI reduced the number of untested samples through a strategy that included the hiring of additional personnel and contractors and a reconfiguring of laboratory space for more efficient processing.
The FBI, the report said, needs to develop policies, procedures and reporting methods to “ensure backlog and workload levels are accurately identified and reported to management.”
Acting Inspector General Cynthia Schnedar said in the report the OIG is also concerned about the long-term storage of DNA samples.
The bureau had 712,000 DNA samples in storage earlier this year, and the agency said it anticipates having more than one million samples by the year’s end. The FBI, the report said, is looking into high-density storage units.
Jennifer Smith Love, acting assistant director in the FBI’s inspection division, said in a letter to Schnedar that the bureau “remains committed to ensuring accepted DNA samples are promptly processed and submitted” into an index system called “CODIS.”
The index is a database of local, state and national DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons.
Love said the FBI agrees with the recommendations spelled out in the report. The FBI, she said, is seeking an off-site lease for continued DNA storage.
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