National DNA database matches 50% of ‘unknown crime stains’ sent for analysis

Approximately half of “unknown crime stains” sent to Forensic Science Ireland from crime scenes now result in a match with samples contained on the national DNA database.

The head of DNA with Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) Dr Geraldine O’Donnell said the database “has been an enormous success”. It is used in criminal investigations as well as the identification of unknown and missing persons. “Five out of 10 unknown crime stains” now lead to a match, she said.

Material taken from a crime scene for DNA analysis can be blood, semen or epithelial material such as skin or sweat. As the number of samples contained on the database grows, the proportion of matches achieved from testing such material is also growing.

The database, which was started in 2015, now contains samples from approximately 70,000 people.

Last year, DNA samples taken from crime scenes led to matches with DNA on the database in 705 cases, including 220 of burglary, 81 of robbery/theft, 64 of car theft, 30 of assault and 26 of sexual assault.

Dr O’Donnell was speaking in advance of the official opening of new FSI laboratories at the Backweston Laboratory Campus, near Celbridge, Co Kildare.

Among the services being moved to the new state-of-the-art laboratory from the old facility in Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, will be the national DNA database.

The database contains DNA samples from a range of categories of people, including people convicted of certain serious crimes, persons detained as suspects for serious crimes, as well as people who volunteer their DNA because of their link, perhaps as a victim, to a crime scene investigation. DNA from unidentified persons and from relatives of missing persons is also contained on the database.

The Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014, which provides for the taking and retention of DNA, also sets out the law in relation to the destruction of samples, including the destruction of samples taken from suspects in cases where proceedings are not initiated within 12 wmonths, or where the suspect is acquitted.

As well as being the site of the DNA database, the Co Kildare laboratory is the new home for blood and semen analysis, fingerprint identification, and other scientific supports that FSI provides to the criminal justice system.

Reporters were recently taken on a tour of the new facility. Before being brought into the laboratory building they had to give a sample (via a mouth swab) to go into the DNA database in case one of the visitors left a trace behind that in time might contaminate a sample from a crime scene.

The “search room” where Dr O’Donnell spoke about the efficacy of DNA sampling has sealed windows, a double-door entrance and pressurised air, all designed to work against the possibility of samples being contaminated.

There are 32 search rooms in the laboratory building used for works such as examining blood and semen stains on items taken from crime scenes and securing samples that can then be subjected to analysis in DNA processing rooms.

Blood stains on clothing, Dr O’Donnell said, can reveal how close a person was to an individual when an injury occurred. Blood stains on the walls of a building can reveal how a violent episode developed, how it moved around a room or building as it left the stains that can later be examined.

In another area of the new laboratory building the director of physical analysis, Dr Dyan Daly, told reporters how physical items from a crime scene, such as drink cans discarded in a car, or part of the frame of a door, are brought for analysis, so that faint fingerprints and other marks can be analysed.

Fingerprints, handwriting, footwear prints, and threatening letters to politicians, all make their way to the laboratory where they are scrutinised by FSI scientists. A triage system based on the urgency of a case is used to decide on priority, with more serious cases being processed in a few hours or a day. “For serious cases, we don’t really have a backlog,” Dr Daly said.

As with DNA profiling, fingerprint analysis can produce matches that have a very high degree of probability. The fingerprint database goes back further than the DNA one and contains prints from approximately two million people, she said.

In another part of the new laboratory, Dr Yvonne Kavanagh, director of chemical analysis, oversees the examination of approximately 10,000 samples of powders, pills, cannabis, and other substances that are in the main evidence in cases of possession or sale and supply of illegal drugs.

“There is definitely more cocaine around than there used to be,” she said, with cocaine followed by cannabis and cannabis products being the drugs most subjected to analysis in the laboratory. The drugs market, she said, is “evolving”, especially in the area of synthetic THC, the psychoactive part of the cannabis plant.

On the day of the tour the laboratory was conducting research into the composition of heroin that has led to a sharp upsurge in the number of users overdosing in Dublin.

“We are seeing cases where bags of what is supposed to be cocaine is not cocaine at all, it’s other stuff,” said Dr Kavanagh. The laboratory is part of a Europe-wide early warning system that monitors particularly dangerous substances or batches of illegal drugs.

The new laboratory building is bright and airy, with lots of high ceilings, large windows, and wood panelling. FSI director general Chris Enright said the old premises in Garda HQ were unsuitable.

Approximately 45 FSI staff have moved to the new laboratory and approximately 100 staff should be in situ by the end of the year. In all, the service has 211 staff, made up of scientists, IT people, administrative people and members of An Garda Síochána.

“The work is really fascinating,” said Mr Enright, and is “real science with an impact”. The vision of the FSI is “science supporting justice” and its goal is “to make sure that the science is in line with the best international practice”.

As with so many sectors of the economy, the FSI is faced with a competitive labour market but Mr Enright said he is hopeful that the new high-end building will help attract new staff to the service.