Light at the end of the DNA backlog tunnel

SA – The South African Police Service management can report that great strides are being made to overcome the backlog in DNA testing while the system to track and trace forensic exhibits is now fully up and running.
This follows a reported ‘disappearance’ of millions of forensic exhibits at the National Forensic DNA Database due to the Property Control and Exhibit Management (PCEM) system being shut down by the service provider in June 2020. In fact, these exhibits were stored in the Forensic Service Laboratory Administration System and could only be accessed manually.
Since then, SAPS has worked together with the State Information Technology Agency and developed the Forensic Exhibit Management (FEM) system. This new system, which also has a track and trace functionality, replaced the previous system run by the service provider. The FEM system can now speedily locate the source and storage of the forensic evidence.
The FEM system went live on the Tuesday 6 April and approximately 10 million samples from the Forensic Laboratory Admin System have been loaded into the FEM system where samples can be tracked and traced at the click of a button. Nearly 25,000 new exhibits have also been loaded into this system.
The prioritisation of the DNA samples is already bearing fruits, as recently as 23 April a Benoni man was confirmed a serial rapist after being positively linked to 60 rape cases through DNA identification. This man was arrested earlier this month on a single rape charge and the evidence collected at the crime scene, matched evidence collected in 59 other cases to which this man could then be linked.  
SAPS press release extracts