MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has become the first law enforcement agency in the country to get a DNA match through the nationwide Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) using what has come to be known as a “rapid DNA system.”
“Beginning in January of 2025, MCSO’s DNA Screening Laboratory partnered with FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) to bring FDLE’s Forensic Rapid DNA Program to life; the first program of this type in the nation,” read an announcement. “The goal was to expedite the processing of DNA samples gathered by MCSO to be entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which exchanges and compares DNA profiles electronically. This streamlined process allows for quicker results in linking serial violent crimes to each other and to known offenders.”
MCSO and FDLE worked together for a year and a half on speeding up the process of comparing DNA digitally while adjusting the protocols of MCSO’s DNA Screening Laboratory to meet the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) standards for its National Accreditation Board.
Last Friday, July 17, 2026, MCSO received word that FDLE’s Forensic Rapid DNA program had been accredited, and that MCSO was approved as a partner agency.
“On Monday morning, (MCSO) forensic DNA technicians processed their first two items of evidence through the Rapid DNA process. The next day, they received a CODIS hit, becoming the first law enforcement agency in the nation to receive a result via a rapid DNA system,” read the announcement. “Before this program, the average turnaround time for receiving DNA analysis results in non-violent crime investigations was 466 days, and 170 days for violent crimes.”
Thus, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office became one of the seminal contributors to new procedures and standards for the sharing of DNA evidence among law enforcement agencies nationwide, that will greatly reduce the time between when some crimes are committed and the enaction of arrests, convictions and justice for victims.