ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Law enforcement agencies are working to get rid of the hundreds of backlogged DNA cases to make for a safer Treasure Coast.

The Indian River Crime Laboratory hired a DNA criminalist through a $94,922 forensic science improvement grant with the Port St. Lucie Police Department from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice.

Lab Director Dan Nippes said the backlog for St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties at the end of June was 646 cases.

“Backlogs are just a huge problem throughout the United States,” he said. “There’s going to be more and more uses, more and more cases where DNA can be utilized as the technology improves. The backlogs aren’t going away.”

Nippes said the lab hired Rupert Page, who used to work for the Miami-Dade Crime Laboratory. Page left a private company in California that closed because of the economy and started last month at the lab.

“He had tremendous credentials,” Nippes said. “We were just very fortunate to get a fantastic person.”

The lab plans to keep Page with its three other analysts who work with DNA by renewing the one-year grant for a couple more years. His job is to work for the sheriff’s department and be assigned to Port St. Lucie Police Department cases.

Nippes, who has been with the lab for 35 years, said Port St. Lucie’s backlog is about 100 cases.

“It’s not that they’re anything big on crime,” he said. “That’s what happens when you grow.”

But Nippes said people who commit crimes from Port St. Lucie don’t break laws only in the city. He said the hiring will benefit the entire area.

“What you’re doing is getting people off the street,” he said. “Crime’s a migratory thing.”

DNA cases take time to process, Nippes said. More requests for cases are coming in because DNA evidence holds up well in court.

“It’s a great piece of evidence to use to exclude people or include them in criminal activity,” Nippes said, “and we keep getting better at it.”

By Laurie K. Blandford

Tags: California, court, Crime, DNA, Economy, grants, jobs, national, Okeechobee, police, science, sheriff, utility

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 10:41 am and is filed under Courts, Crime, Economy, Indian River County, Martin County, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.