DNA Backlog Stymies Development of CSI-Like Inventions

The need to clear a bottleneck of unanalyzed DNA is undermining the Justice Department's ability to drive innovations that could more quickly solve both the backlog problem and new cases, some law enforcement experts say.

While police technology is nowhere close to what audiences see on forensic science dramas such as CSI and NCIS, so-called rapid DNA tools could move law enforcement in that direction.

But, backlog reduction programs account for the majority of DNA funding from the National Institute of Justice, the department's research and development arm and the only federal agency that provides resources for unclogging backlogs at crime labs. A prime area for experimentation i…
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