DNA initiative working

Since President Bush announced a national push to advance justice through DNA testing in 2003 — backing it with the promise of $1 billion over five years — Colorado investigators have identified 100 genetic profiles of crime suspects.

Not all of those have been tied to names — some have — but those findings are being compared to the national database of DNA profiles in an effort to solve homicides and rape cases long unsolved. Without money from the president’s DNA initiative, state and local investigators would not have been able to identify specific suspects, pull homicide and rape cases out of the cold case drawer and work on arresting the culprits.

With federal money intended to improve DNA crime labs and $2.4 million from the state for a laboratory robotics system, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has reduced the backlog of casework, as well. CBI can now turn around information on a DNA sample in 120 or fewer days.

But perhaps the most important thing that the president’s initiative to improve DNA crime labs and as a result solve thousands of cold cases nationwide has done is to revive interest in “unsolvable” cases.

It has encouraged police agencies to evaluate cold homicides and sexual assaults, according to CBI agent-in-charge Ronald Arndt.

Kudos to investigation teams taking on the work to provide an answer for Colorado women and families who gave up hope of convictions ages ago and to agents working on identifying genetic profiles to make convictions possible.