Published: Sept. 25th,2023
By: Camila Fernandez
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Fishers Police Department says a DNA testing device, which the department started using last year, is bringing closure to families impacted by violence.
“I don’t think there’s anything more trying or difficult for a family at a time of need to try to figure (out) where one of their family members are, so I think it’s hugely impactful,” Fishers Police Department Chief Ed Gebhart said.
DNA technology can help police generate leads for suspects involved in various cases.
Last year, the University of Indianapolis, in conjunction with the Human Identification Center, partnered with the department to provide rapid DNA testing result interpretation to help identify victims of crimes or provide investigative direction more quickly.
“We’ve had an actual hit off of a person who had a weapon and from taking blood off the weapon we can positively upload it to our machine and give us a positive hit from that DNA from that person and we can solve other crimes spawning from that one hit,” Gebhart said.
Gebhart says thanks to the technology, they were able to work on cases with previously unidentified victims for Hamilton County, and other jurisdictions.
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