New York City is now home to the country’s first-ever gun crimes unit at a public DNA crime laboratory. NYC mayor Eric Adams and NYC Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced the formation of the specialized unit at a press conference that included the entire staff of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
The newly formed OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit will focus exclusively on the testing and analysis of evidence from gun crimes and accelerate testing turnaround times to 30 days or less.
Currently, the turnaround time for gun crimes at OCME is 60 days—already faster than 90 percent of other jurisdictions in the nation. This unit, however, will cut that time in half. In 2021, the OCME lab processed evidence from 2,687 gun cases.
“We say to those committing gun crimes, ‘science is coming for you, and we’re going to use this science to get you off our street,’” said Adams, who is a former NYC police officer.
Funded by an investment of $2.5 million, the OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit will hire and train 24 forensic scientists dedicated solely to the testing and analysis of evidence from gun crimes throughout the five boroughs. The funding will also support upgrades in laboratory management software, the purchase of new equipment and other forensic supplies.
Currently, evidence from gun crimes is processed throughout the entire lab, which includes five different sections. The forensic biology lab at OCME is the largest with approximately 150 forensic scientists. This new unit will operate as another section that will “laser focus” on evidence from gun crimes.
Graham said the laboratory is actively recruiting to fill the open positions, reviewing over 300 resumes thus far. He has already identified 10 of the 24 hires, and said he intends to hire the remaining scientists by fall at the latest.
With onboarding and training, Graham expects the unit to be fully functional—i.e., achieving a 30-day turnaround—by fall 2023.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is central to our fight against gun violence in New York City, and so we must fight the gun violence crisis with every tool at our disposal. That includes timely and accurate DNA testing of gun crime evidence,” said Adams. “The OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit will use the power of science to bring those involved in gun crimes to justice faster and help the criminal justice system process cases more quickly. With this new team, New York City is leading the way to end gun violence and keep our communities safe.”
The timing of the OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit feels especially potent given the social and political environment the nation finds itself in recently. On June 23, the Supreme Court struck down a 109-year-old New York state law that required people to demonstrate an unusual threat to their safety to qualify for a license to carry a handgun outside their homes. Eight days later, NY governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill that bans guns from most public places and imposes restrictions on the state’s handgun licensing rules.
Also in June, New York became the second state to enact a law intended to force firearms manufacturers to adopt microstamping, a technology in which guns imprint tiny codes on ammunition cartridges as they are fired—creating a unique signature that can be used to tie the gun to the owner.
The 2,687 gun cases the OCME lab processed in 2021 is a 59% increase compared with 2020
(although the argument could be made the stats are slightly skewed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) Even so, more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record, according to the CDC. In 2019, guns surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the No. 1 cause of death for children under the age of 19.
If gun crime keeps increasing at the rate that has been witnessed in the past few years, the newly formed OCME DNA Gun Crimes Unit will have an abundance of evidence to process.
“I want to thank the entire [OCME] because you are the unsung heroes of this city,” said NYC Council Member Keith Powers. “You don’t often get recognized for all the work you are doing, but you make our city better and safer, and you bring justice to families here in NYC.”