Mayor Eric Adams unveils Medical Examiner's Office's new high-tech DNA Gun Crimes Unit
NEW YORK -- Guns used in crimes in New York City will be analyzed faster. That's the aim of a first-of-its-kind unit at the city's Medical Examiner's Office.
CBS2's Dave Carlin has more on a new team of scientists that is expected to get DNA test results back in half the time.
On Thursday, CBS2 was granted a rare look inside labs at the ME's Office. It is where forensic scientists process some 50,000 individual pieces of crime scene evidence a year related to cases of murder, sex assault, property crimes, you name it.
Mayor Eric Adams was shown how it all works.
"Everyone knows we have the best lab on the planet and it's getting better," Adams said.
The mayor announced a $2.5 million unit there, with 24 newly-hired criminologists dedicated to DNA and guns.
New York City's DNA Gun Crimes Unit will be tasked with speeding up processing to more quickly catch criminals.
"Science is coming to get you and science will get you off the streets," Adams said.
Pulling sweat or blood from a gun and pinpointing DNA gets a case to court with confidence, but the wait time for results can be up to two months.
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Having this new team dedicated to guns, while others focus on the other crimes, should cut the wait time in half, officials said.
"We will achieve a 30-day turnaround," one official in the ME's office said.
With practically the entire work force of the office gathered around him, the mayor said when it comes to these lab results, faster is better.
"Slow testing bottlenecked the judicial system," Adams said. "We cannot allow these cases to remain open, so let's get this testing done."
The mayor said it's about fast-tracking justice for victims and getting lower crime rates for everyone.
Adams also said the unit will deliver results "faster than 90 percent of the jurisdictions in the nation."
