WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today announced that the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs has awarded two grants totaling $787,000 to Iowa.
“By providing excellent technology to Iowa law enforcement, they should be better able to stay one step ahead of criminals and keep our communities safe,” Grassley said.
The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded funds as described below.
v Iowa Department of Public Safety in Des Moines will receive a $500,000 grant to help establish a Cold Case Unit that will be comprised of two DCI Special Agents and one DCI Laboratory Criminalist that will establish and maintain the Cold Case database and identify, review and prioritize cases that have potential for resolution from DNA analysis.
v Iowa State University will receive a $287,000 grant to help complete a computer-searchable library of Direct Analysis in Real Time spectra of inks to reduce examination time and reduce backlogs of untested evidence. Direct Analysis in Real Time has been shown to be superior to traditional methods for ink analysis in its ability to differentiate among inks, speed up the analysis, and minimally affect the document under analysis.