Current Event Spring

Amber 2/13/19 Period 7

Upton

Coming Soon to A Police Station Near You: The DNA “Magic Box” January 21st, 2019 Summary: A police station in Bensalum, Pennsylvania has recently installed a DNA device in their place of work. Normally blood samples or forms of DNA found at crime scenes are sent to outside labs to find the results of who it belongs to, but this new device could change the long wait police experience when sending it to the lab. This DNA machine provides results within 90 minutes. With this device being so helpful to the police station, President Trump signed the Rapid DNA Act. This act, becoming affective this year, will allow police stations with this DNA device to connect their machines to the national DNA database. This device has helped police gain leads on a large amount of cases and help falsely accused individuals. This DNA machine was used to identify victims who died in the wildfires in northern California. Project Topic Connections: For my independent study mentorship class I am shadowing an Autopsy Technician. Medical Examiners and Autopsy Technicians work in the field of Forensic Pathology where at times they must visit crime scenes and work with police departments. This article concerning DNA testing by the police station relates to my final project because I am studying overdoses and how illegal and medicinal drugs effect the body. Overdoses can be intentional and nonintentional and often people who unintentionally overdose can be found with no identification and their DNA must be used to find out who they are. While this article is not directly related to my topic for my project, they have similarities when concerning the testing of blood samples. Medical examiner run blood test of decedents to find which drugs are found in their system. For my project I will be using information from blood test results from specific overdose cases to determine the most common drug found amongst a variety of over dose cases. I also will be using the results to see how much of the drugs were in the system and which drug was used the most. Personal Response: After reading this article I am more aware of how fast technology is developing and how important having DNA results as soon as possible can be. If all police stations had one of the speedy DNA machines crimes would be solved much sooner and can help innocent people be released. DNA is a huge aspect in forensics and used to help identify people who have no form of identification. MLA Citation: Lewis, Allison. “Dangers in DNA Testing.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/opinion/letters/dnatesting.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&conte

Amber 2/13/19 Period 7

Upton

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