GBI DNA index makes 6,000th criminal-to-crime match

DECATUR — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Index System achieved a milestone last week, according to bureau officials, when the 6,000th criminal-to-crime DNA match was made.

The network, known as CODIS, “contains DNA profiles from evidence collected in criminal investigations and from convicted offenders,” a GBI news release said. “With 6000 DNA matches, profiles contained in CODIS have been used to solve numerous crimes.”

The GBI manages Georgia’s CODIS database of convicted felons and felony probationers as authorized by O.C.G.A. 35-3-160, officials said. The database allows for the comparison of DNA profiles from casework samples to those offenders in the Georgia file and CODIS averages 500 offender matches per year.

“This milestone is significant because DNA, as forensic evidence, continues to be an important tool for law enforcement to link criminals to various crimes,” GBI Public Affairs Director Nelly Miles said Monday. “As technology has advanced, so have the capabilities of the GBI Crime Lab. It is a true testament to the success of the DNA unit to have 6,000 confirmed matches to convicted offenders and other forensic cases.”

The GBI began DNA testing in 1991 and four years later the Georgia legislature authorized DNA collection from convicted sex offenders.

Beginning in 1998, the GBI Crime lab implemented CODIS into its operation.

According to bureau officials, the current success of the program stemmed from the expansion of the offender law by the legislature in 2000 to include all incarcerated convicted felons.

In 2005, Georgia laws were amended to include DNA from inmates serving extended sentences and subsequently, in 2007, the legislature expanded the DNA database statute to include certain felony probationers.

Currently, the GBI DNA database contains 347,145 genetic profiles, and of that total, 324,864 are offender/probationer profiles.

For more information visit gbi.georgia.gov.