The Forensic Nurse

In part three of our online training guide for free online education opportunities available, is an online forensics course produced by dna.gov  This course is called “What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence” .

The website describes the course as:

“self-paced training courses are intended to provide interactive training that covers basic information about the identification, preservation, and collection of DNA evidence at a crime scene. Recommended practices covered may not be applicable to all situations or crime scenes. You should apply local department or agency procedures or applicable laws that govern the use, collection, and processing of DNA evidence.”

 This information is gives a very nice understanding of the process of evidence preservation at a crime scene.
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The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is offering a FREE online basic forensic DNA testing course geared specifically toward law enforcement, court officials and other forensic professionals.

The main goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the important role DNA plays in forensic science; introduce the steps involved in forensic DNA testing using the latest methods and technologies; and provide a basic understanding of the National DNA database system.

Funded under NIJ Award Number 2009-DN-BX-K175

Click to Enroll:

https://www.forensic-training-network.com/cgi-bin/DJlinks.cgi?T=st-enroll.html&LANG=EN&ID=00019

The Los Angeles Daily News recently reported that the LAPD is a backlog of more than 7,000 rape kits waiting for processing by the LAPD DNA lab.  Some of these cases are nearing the ten year mark, at which time they become inadmissible as evidence due to the statute of limitations law in california with regard to evidence testing. In California, if the kit is tested within two years of the sample collection date, then there is no statute of limitations for it.

The main reason that these kits haven’t been tested yet, is simply manpower and funding. In just five years the demand for kits to be tested has doubled.  According to the article. “In about 2000, the department ordered analysts to keep every shred of cell evidence in rape cases, just in case they might need to test it. Before the change, rape kits were regularly purged from the property division, with the permission of an investigating officer.”

The City of Los Angeles recently approved the hiring of 16 addtional criminalists, but these positions have yet to be funded.