Milestone marks major step toward use of Rapid DNA in police booking stations to dramatically reduce violent crime
ANDE® Corporation today announced that its ANDE Rapid DNA™ Identification System has received National DNA Index System (NDIS) approval from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The approval allows accredited NDIS laboratories to process DNA samples using the ANDE system and search the resulting ANDE DNA IDs™ against the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) program, without manual interpretation or technical review.
The Rapid DNA Act of 2017 calls for DNA testing of arrestees in police booking stations, with the goal of identifying arrestees wanted in connection with rapes, murders, and other crimes while they are still in police custody (instead of being released within hours, without performing DNA identification, as is currently the case). By identifying suspects quickly, Rapid DNA testing of arrestees has the potential to identify repeat criminals, dramatically reducing the rate of violent crimes. The Rapid DNA Act of 2017 requires NDIS approval of Rapid DNA Systems to be used in police booking stations, and ANDE is the first and only system to receive this approval.
“This approval represents a major milestone for public safety, and I thank the FBI and the major laboratories that worked so diligently to make this a reality,” said George Heinrichs, CEO of ANDE Corporation. “Most rapists and murderers are serial criminals, and Rapid DNA at the police station will link them to their earlier unsolved crimes while still in custody. We look forward to working closely with state and local Law Enforcement and the FBI to implement the ANDE system in police booking stations across the country.”
The value of ANDE Rapid DNA Identification Systems in police booking stations is that law enforcement will be able to link arrestees to any violent crimes before they are released and to exonerate the innocent. The importance of booking station implementation is highlighted by several critical facts:
- One in five women (18.3 percent) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives. 37.4% of female victims were first raped between ages 18-24, according to the Center for Disease Control.
- A study of over 400,000 prisoners in 30 states found that 71.3 percent of violent offenders and 82.1 percent of property offenders were rearrested for a new crime, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report.
- Fourteen percent of all unsolved homicides and 18 percent of unsolved rapes contained evidence that was not submitted by law enforcement agencies to crime labs for analysis, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
About the NDIS Approval
ANDE accelerates the DNA processing from taking months or even years to less than two hours. A comprehensive developmental validation study evaluated the ANDE Rapid DNA Identification System’s overall process–from inserting cheek swabs to ANDE DNA ID generation; testing included the instrument, A-Chip consumable, FlexPlex™ chemistry, and automated data interpretation by the on-board Expert System Software. The forensic science community expects this validation process to be undertaken for any new scientific technology introduced in the criminal justice system. More than 2,000 samples were tested by leading forensic laboratories, and the ANDE system successfully produced accurate, reliable, reproducible, and robust results without manual processing. As of January 1, 2017, the FBI implemented new standards expanding the CODIS Core Loci to a total of 20. ANDE’s NDIS approval meets these new standards.
Forensic laboratories participating in the developmental validation of the ANDE System included:
- Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- Louisiana State Police
- Defense Forensic Science Center
- National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Belgium
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (US Commerce Department)
NDIS approval of the ANDE system is a major milestone in the United States as well as in the many countries that look to the FBI as a global leader in forensic DNA analysis. Rapid DNA policies have been developed by NDIS and SWGDAM (Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods), and developmental validation studies were designed to ensure that the ANDE Rapid DNA Identification System generates results equivalent to those from a forensic laboratory.
About the FBI’s Rapid DNA Index System (RDIS)
The FBI’s Rapid DNA Initiative is focused on the integration of Rapid DNA into the booking station process. Following the passage of the Rapid DNA Act of 2017, the FBI has announced that quality standards and procedures for using NDIS-approved Rapid DNA systems in the police booking station are being developed. For more information, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis/rapid-dna
About the ANDE Rapid DNA Identification System
The ANDE system performs Rapid DNA Identification—the fully-automated generation and interpretation of DNA IDs—in less than two hours, outside the lab, by non-technical users. The system consists of a ruggedized instrument, an expert system that performs data interpretation, and a single-use, all-in-one consumable chip that accepts an oral swab or forensic sample.
About ANDE Corporation
ANDE is the global leader in Rapid DNA. With a mission to use Rapid DNA to create a safer world, ANDE’s pioneering work is already having major impacts in the wide range of applications in the U.S. and internationally. ANDE believes that moving DNA analysis from sophisticated laboratories to the police station, battlefield, borders, and disaster sites will dramatically transform public safety and strengthen national security. ANDE was founded in 2000 and has offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, Longmont, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.
ANDE®, ANDE DNA ID™, ANDE RAPID DNA™, and FlexPlex™ are trademarks of ANDE Corporation.