Forensic Science Department, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Tafelbergweg 51, 1105 BD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Midden-Nederland Police Department, Forensic Investigative Division, 1276 KA Huizen, The Netherlands.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Apr 21;23(8):4153. doi: 10.3390/s23084153.
Technological innovations enable rapid DNA analysis implementation possibilities. Concordantly, rapid DNA devices are being used in practice. However, the effects of implementing rapid DNA technologies in the crime scene investigation procedure have only been evaluated to a limited extent. In this study a field experiment was set up comparing 47 real crime scene cases following a rapid DNA analysis procedure outside of the laboratory (decentral), with 50 cases following the regular DNA analysis procedure at the forensic laboratory. The impact on duration of the investigative process, and on the quality of the analyzed trace results (97 blood and 38 saliva traces) was measured. The results of the study show that the duration of the investigation process has been significantly reduced in cases where the decentral rapid DNA procedure was deployed, compared to cases where the regular procedure was used. Most of the delay in the regular process lies in the procedural steps during the police investigation, not in the DNA analysis, which highlights the importance of an effective work process and having sufficient capacity available. This study also shows that rapid DNA techniques are less sensitive than regular DNA analysis equipment. The device used in this study was only to a limited extent suitable for the analysis of saliva traces secured at the crime scene and can mainly be used for the analysis of visible blood traces with an expected high DNA quantity of a single donor.
技术创新使快速 DNA 分析的实现成为可能。相应地，快速 DNA 设备正在实际中得到应用。然而，在犯罪现场调查程序中实施快速 DNA 技术的效果仅在有限的程度上得到了评估。在这项研究中，进行了一项现场实验，将 47 起真实犯罪现场案件与实验室外的快速 DNA 分析程序（分散式）进行了比较，另外 50 起案件则按照法医实验室的常规 DNA 分析程序进行了比较。测量了对调查过程持续时间和分析痕迹结果（97 个血迹和 38 个唾液痕迹）质量的影响。研究结果表明，与使用常规程序的案件相比，部署分散式快速 DNA 程序的案件中，调查过程的持续时间显著缩短。常规程序中的大部分延迟在于警方调查过程中的程序步骤，而不是 DNA 分析，这突出了有效工作流程和充足可用能力的重要性。本研究还表明，快速 DNA 技术的灵敏度不如常规 DNA 分析设备。本研究中使用的设备在一定程度上不适于分析现场采集的唾液痕迹，主要可用于分析预期有单个供体高 DNA 数量的可见血迹。
