Where do we go from here? The Evolution of Forensic DNA Analysis as an Investigative Tool
From its earliest application Forensic DNA analysis has been a valuable investigative tool. As technology continues to evolve, forensic DNA remains at the forefront of forensic science. Recent calls for intelligence-led policing that provides a data-driven, transparent, and objective approach to modern law enforcement increases the potential importance of forensic DNA. Advancements in science and technology will enhance the ability to increase laboratory capacity, analyze more challenging samples, and interpret complex results. Responsible data analytics and databases magnify the ability to establish cold hits through direct comparisons, kinship comparisons and advanced genealogy. With these technological advances comes the responsibility to establish reliable programs that preserve scientific integrity while adhering to legal requirements that maintain public trust. The future of forensic DNA is a direct growth from its origins. Forensic DNA has grown into a more powerful investigative tool to exonerate the innocent, identify subjects, and establish linkages that assists in solving and preventing crime to enhance public safety and trust.
You Might Also Like
Hello, my name is Mike Garvey.
I am the director of the Office of Forensic Science for the Philadelphia Police
Department.
It is my pleasure to be here today at the HIDS 2022 conference.
I will be talking about DNA testing and where we're going from here.
What is the future of DNA testing as an investigative tool?
I must start my presentation with first acknowledging the incredible first
presentation to kick
off this conference, giving the history of the very first case where DNA
testing was
used in a criminal investigation.
What we heard today was inspiring because it really is where it all began.
What's incredible to hear about the story of that first case is how it was
quality,
forensic science, objective forensic data that was able to exonerate many
people through
comparisons, link cases to each other.
And ultimately, identify the perpetrator of the crime, providing actionable
investigative
leads to law enforcement to close that very first case.
So when I contemplate the future of DNA testing as an investigative tool, in
many ways it's
remembering our past.
As we look at DNA testing today, or if we look in general about Forensic
Science today, many
individuals talk about how Forensic Science needs to be independent from the
investigative
process needs to be independent from law enforcement.
Now in many ways, those concepts are accurate.
We must maintain our independent and objective thought processes.
We must be able to independently choose what are the valid technologies to use.
We must be independent of any undue bias.
However, the mission of Forensic Scientists throughout the world is to provide
actionable
intelligence or investigative leads to law enforcement, to drive law
enforcement towards
the truth.
To aid investigations, to exonerate the innocent, to link serial cases,
identifying patterns
that were otherwise unknown, and to ultimately help identify perpetrators of
crime, all for
the purpose of enhancing public safety.
We can do this as part of the investigative team, not as an observer to it, but
as a driver
of it.
The future of Forensic DNA testing should be the other way around.
It should be timely, accurate forensic DNA test results driving an
investigation forward.
When we consider calls throughout the country and throughout the world on how
to improve
law enforcement in the modern age.
We hear phrases like transparency, data-driven policing, intelligence-led
policing.
I would argue that there is no better transparent, data-driven, and
intelligence-led policing
capability than Forensic Science, resourced, and performed properly.
One of our driving issues, however, is one of capacity.
The amount of crime that occurs sometimes greatly overwhelms the capabilities
of the
Forensic Laboratory.
Part of that is because at some point we forgot what we learned in that very
first case, that
Forensic DNA can drive an investigation, not simply prepare a case for trial.
All too often, crime labs have been resourced to get cases done in time for
trial.
As we move forward in the future of DNA as an investigative tool, we must
encourage and
convince our law enforcement agencies and other government partners that
Forensic Science
must be resourced in a manner to allow timely investigations, to allow the
timely analysis
of evidence.
When I consider the capabilities that we have today, compared to what we had
when I
first started doing DNA testing in the mid to late 1990s, it's incredible.
Ones that we would have said in the past were not able to analyze that today
are fully possible
to be analyzed and provide meaningful results.
One example of this is fire cartridge casings.
Fire cartridge casings, which we find that crime scenes all the time in many of
our shootings,
several years ago, would not have been suitable for meaningful Forensic
comparison on a frequent
enough basis for labs to try to test them.
Today we know that there are advances in our technology, not only the
sensitivity of
our typing kits, but in our ability to resolve mixtures, fire cartridge cases
can now be
a meaningful part of the investigative process for DNA.
If we consider, however, that in 2021, the Philadelphia Police Department
recovered almost
6,000 crime guns and almost 50,000 fire cartridge cases from crime scenes, this
volume presents
an incredible capacity issue.
While we may have the capability to recover DNA from fire cartridge casings, do
we have
the capacity to analyze these in a timely manner to provide meaningful results
to an
investigator to potentially link shootings to each other, identify those that
have handled
crime guns and potentially stop the next shooting?
So when we consider this problem of capacity, even with our traditional STR
typing capabilities,
what are the future answers?
One may be hire more people.
Make sure you are properly staffed.
Now that comes with its own complexities.
The other is look towards technology and look towards automation.
What are the possibilities to automate our processes more than we currently
have?
We do a great deal of automation with database reference samples.
Many labs have also started to automate processes related to the processing of
rape kits and
other evidence.
One of the things that we are looking at in the Philadelphia Police Laboratory
is within
the next year bringing on automated robotics that will be dedicated to gun
violence.
We will use the capabilities that are currently available in a manner to be
able to analyze
the volume of gun related evidence.
Again, between 30 and 50,000 fire-carched cases per year and over 6,000 crime
guns, we are
confident that by analyzing this evidence, we will provide actionable
intelligence to
the PPD.
We will provide investigative leads that will help solve crime and hopefully
help prevent
future shootings.
It is our mission to focus forensic efforts on the investigative capability to
enhance
public safety.
Now we realize that this is a capacity problem, but it is also a timeliness
problem.
They go hand in hand.
So in one way, we look for our current capabilities to increase capacity
through automation.
And the other way, we look for ways to do things faster.
I would be remiss if I didn't talk about rapid DNA.
Rapid DNA, as we all know, was first early talked about in around 2005, but
really within
the last few years became a functional, realistic capability for crime
laboratories and their
field investigators.
Rapid DNA in its purest form is where we put a sample into an instrument and
within about
90 minutes to two hours, a profile comes out.
This was clearly designed for high quality and high quantity DNA to be able to
be automatically
analyzed by a non-ferenzic DNA scientist.
These capabilities enhance the possibility for what we can do with an
investigation.
Even if one just considers working reference samples and how that could aid an
investigation,
rapid DNA would be valuable.
However, a rapid DNA program created in conjunction with a crime laboratory can
also begin to
look at crime scene evidence.
Crime scene evidence on rapid DNA instruments has been shown that it can work
and it can
provide investigative leads.
However, with any new capability that we bring on board and that we look to
expand through
the future, we must not simply look at the technology, but we must also
consider the
responsibility.
We have a responsibility to implement these technologies properly.
Therefore, I highly recommend that any law enforcement agency looking to
consider a rapid
DNA system do so in conjunction with their local crime laboratory.
A partnership between the investigative services and the crime laboratory using
rapid DNA can
be extremely powerful.
It is a way to provide early investigative leads.
Now, rapid DNA by itself is never going to replace a crime laboratory, but it
is an extra
tool.
We also see within the next several years, there will be advances in rapid DNA
for what
type of crime scene samples can be processed, as well as the potential for
rapid DNA crime
scene profiles to be some day entered into DNA databases such as CODIS.
But what about when traditional STRs isn't enough?
Well, we know that the use of next-generation sequencing and SNPs is an
incredible, powerful
tool for forensic testing currently.
But this is an area that will only grow as we proceed into the future.
Next-generation sequencing carries with it the potential to type our
traditional STRs,
but also other markers such as SNPs and other typing systems to provide even
more information
than we currently have.
It will give us the ability to look at mixtures in ways that we previously
could not.
It will give us the ability to look at phenotypic markers and potentially
provide types of
investigative leads that previously were unheard of.
Now, with these new technologies, obviously comes a resource issue, but again
comes the
issue of responsibility.
As we move forward with next-generation sequencing, choosing phenotypic markers
and other typing
systems that may provide more personal information than we have ever looked at
previously, we
must ensure that we do so carefully.
We must ensure that we do so in conjunction with our local prosecutors' offices
and with
privacy advocates to ensure that we are doing these things the right way.
But we know that the ability to utilize next-generation sequencing has already
helped us when it
comes to genetic genealogy.
Through genetic genealogy, we are able to do things today that we previously
were unable
to do, such as find investigative leads from family members, potential
relationships that
could lead us to the identity of victims that have gone unidentified for years
or perpetrators
of unsolved cases.
Genetic genealogy today has been used in a great number of cases, but it's
typically
been reserved for cold cases that are relatively old.
Truly, there are no more leads.
Years have gone by and everything is exhausted.
Or unidentified human remains that haven't been identified in 10, 20, 50, 60
years.
Genetic genealogy has brought closure in these cases by identifying victims and
perpetrators
of crime.
But as we look at the possibility for genetic genealogy and where we can go
driving it
towards the future as an investigative tool, we have to consider what do we
really mean
by a cold case?
Should a cold case only be considered when it's 10 years old and no one has
been able
to do anything for it or it's 20 years old and we want to try as a last resort?
Or should we really be redefining cold cases and be considering it in a more
timely manner?
If a current case, a current investigation has reached a point where we have
exhausted
all scientific and other investigative capabilities, even if it's in the first
month, is it not
worth considering the other DNA options?
What enhanced DNA options exist?
What could next-generation sequencing provide us?
What could genetic genealogy provide us today?
We don't need to wait years for something to be a cold case that we will
process for
genetic genealogy.
And I understand that people are already changing this, but what I would
envision and what I
hopefully argue will happen is with the success of solving cold cases with
genetic genealogy
crime laboratories as well as investigative agencies will put resources towards
the complex
nature of genetic genealogy testing.
One, crime laboratories will have to be resourced to either begin to do next-
generation sequencing
in-house so that they can do genetic genealogy testing within their own
laboratory or they
will need to grow their budget resources to do outsourcing of genetic genealogy
testing.
In either case, we need more scientific testing for enhanced forensic
techniques, but we will
also need greater investigative capabilities to follow those leads that result
from genetic
genealogy.
But in any event, as we move forward into the future, we will solve more cases
with these
enhanced techniques.
But we also have to consider not just investigative cases for crime.
Crime laboratories, or forensic DNA laboratories throughout the country,
throughout the world,
are called upon in other cases as well.
Since September of 2001, many times, crime labs have been called upon to
identify victims
of mass fatality incidents, cases in which there may be hundreds, if not
thousands, of
victims of either a natural disaster or potentially a plane wreck, train crash,
or an act of terrorism.
The current DNA capabilities give us the ability to identify human remains
unlike we have ever
been able to before.
STR capabilities are more sensitive now.
Mixtures can be resolved better than previously.
Rapid DNA gives us the ability to take DNA instruments to the scene of a
disaster and
start victim identification on scene.
And next generation sequencing even enhances that capability even greater.
So as we move forward and think about how and what role does forensic DNA play
in victim
identification, we have to be prepared for that call.
I hope it never comes.
But if your lab does not have a plan for mass identification from a natural or
man-made
disaster, you need to start planning one now.
And if you don't have all of your own internal capabilities, it's okay.
Figure out who your partner agencies are.
Collaborate with each other.
Come up with a plan now so that you'll be prepared for this when it occurs.
And all of these capabilities are going to more and more rely on DNA databases.
Now we know from the earliest creations of DNA capabilities, whether it be over
in Great
Britain or here in the United States or throughout the world, DNA databases
have been created
to legally obtain and legally hold profiles from crime scene evidence, as well
as known
reference samples from people either who have been convicted of a crime or meet
other legal
requirements.
We also know that DNA databases can be useful for unidentified human remains.
So as we look at the future, DNA databases are not going away.
They are growing.
We are also seeing a trend of local and regional DNA databases for those
laboratories and law
enforcement agencies who are bringing technologies on such as rapid DNA.
What we need to remember again though is the issue of responsibility.
DNA databases are an incredible investigative tool and should continue.
But they must continue with a level of responsibility so that it does not
compromise the system
in its whole.
So as we move forward with regional and local DNA databases, anyone who is
considering
creating one for rapid DNA or not, I strongly encourage that they coordinate
with their
local crime laboratory.
That they also coordinate with their local district attorney's office to ensure
that
everything is being done properly from a legal and scientific viewpoint.
But we must also realize that local and regional DNA databases while a valuable
investigative
tool will never replace national databases such as CODIS.
CODIS is and will remain one of the most powerful investigative tools that has
been created.
And as we proceed in developing new technologies, CODIS will continue to evolve
as well.
There are currently groups working on what it will take to validate rapid DNA
for crime
scene samples so that one day crime scene profiles worked on rapid DNA may be
searchable
in CODIS.
Ultimately, when we talk about forensic DNA testing, we're talking about issues
of capacity
to analyze, capacity to interpret, and then capacity to search and explore.
Databases will continue to be part of that process.
Now when we consider this though, that we're talking about interpretations of
complex mixtures
or searching databases, either for direct matches or kinship possibilities, the
complexity
of searches, the complexity of interpretation is also growing.
An exciting part of modern genetics is how genomics is using artificial
intelligence
to fully explore the human genome.
Well likewise, I would envision at some point in time artificial intelligence
will begin
to work its way into forensic DNA as well.
It will be used as a tool to help a forensic scientist interpret DNA mixtures.
It will be used as a tool to help do phenotypic predictions based on genetic
typing.
And it will be used as a tool to do advanced genetic genealogy.
Artificial intelligence will never replace a qualified forensic scientist and
it should
not.
But as a field, we must be looking at these possibilities.
Again, how to enhance our technologies to get to the core mission, which is
utilize forensic
DNA to provide actionable intelligence to investigate crime, to solve crime, to
exonerate
the innocent and to enhance public safety.
What I hope is all of these tools from automated processes of STR typing, rapid
DNA, to next
generation sequencing, to larger DNA databases and someday artificial
intelligence, I hope
that they'll give us the ability to just say no.
And what I mean by that is for the first time it's not going to be no, I can't
work that
case because we have a backlog.
No, we were unable to identify the perpetrator of the crime.
No, we weren't able to resolve that complex mixture.
No, we were unable to identify the human remains.
There were an R still, I know that we must say sometimes.
But hopefully through the continued advancement of DNA technology, we're going
to be able
to say yes more often.
We're going to be able to say yes, we have the capacity to not just simply work
cases
that are going to trial, but to drive an investigation forward with the truth.
We're going to have the capacity that any victim of a mass disaster or a local
homicide
will have the dignity of being able to be identified in a timely manner.
And we're going to be able to say yes to providing law enforcement with the
actionable
investigative leads to solve crime and thus prevent crime.
And oh yes, throughout this whole process, it will also help prevent wrongful
convictions.
As we move forward utilizing DNA at the earliest stages possible of an
investigation, we put
that investigation on a path towards the truth.
We put that investigation on the path to solving the crime the right way.
So when you look at all of these possibilities and what the future holds for us
to be able
to aid investigations, it's not really something that we're just sitting around
and waiting
for.
I know that all of you are out there right now, whether you're working in a
public crime
laboratory, a private laboratory, a commercial vendor lab who is creating new
technologies,
all of you are not waiting around for this to happen.
You are coming up with the solutions today.
You are making the arguments to increase your capacity and to do more with
reliable
scientific truths.
For that, I have to say thank you.
Too often people work in forensic science and may not be recognized for the
work that
they do.
It's okay.
You all don't do it for the recognition.
But I need to take a moment to tell all of you that you all make a difference
every day.
Those lives are changed because of the work you do.
Crimes are solved.
People that are innocent are exonerated.
And when you solve crimes in a timely manner, you prevent future crimes as well
You may not realize it, but you are on the front lines of public safety.
And I am proud to work with you all, and I look forward to an incredible future
And I hope you enjoy the rest of the HIDS 2022 Conference.
[BLANK_AUDIO]