Owed DNA Grant Project Completed

Washington County, OR – The Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) Lawfully Owed DNA Unit has completed a grant project to collect DNA samples for the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). After being awarded a $974,066 grant in October 2018, the Owed DNA Unit worked to address missing DNA samples from offenders convicted in Washington County as well as create a framework for other jurisdictions to follow, allowing for owed DNA samples to be collected and entered into the CODIS system.

A census of individuals who owe DNA based on a conviction within Washington County identified over 7,000 individuals who had not submitted DNA samples. More than 800 samples have since been collected and entered into CODIS. This resulted in 18 matches between collected samples and evidence from unsolved cases.

Another part of the grant was to identify why samples were missing and implement procedures to prevent missing collections in the future. It was identified that many of the missing samples were from offenders who were sentenced to probation. To address this, WCSO Court Security and the District Attorney’s Office have implemented a policy to collect from individuals at the courthouse following a conviction.

At the time of this press release, WCSO is the only agency in Oregon that has addressed the lawfully owed DNA issue. As such, we created a framework that can be used by other law enforcement agencies to take on this issue within their own jurisdiction. A handbook encompassing all aspects of the grant (i.e. census, verification, collection, documentation, etc.) and best practices has been created for other jurisdictions to adopt in their effort to reduce the number of missing DNA samples. This handbook has been shared with numerous agencies in Oregon as well as nationally.