CLEVELAND - Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office’s (C.C.P.O.) G.O.L.D. Unit (Genetic Operations Linking D.N.A.) will now use genealogical testing for current unsolved violent crimes in Cuyahoga County.
“To all law enforcement agencies across Cuyahoga County, if you have an unsolved violent crime that has occurred within the last four years where a suspect’s DNA profile is present, and it has not hit in CODIS, please submit the case to the G.O.L.D. Unit to review for genealogical testing,” said Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley. “Our G.O.L.D. The unit has had significant success in utilizing genealogical testing for cold cases. We wanted to bring that initiative to current violence cases to get more offenders off the streets and bring justice to the victims affected by these horrific crimes.”
Prosecutor O’Malley has allocated the G.O.L.D Unit to utilize $250,000 of Law Enforcement Training Funds (L.E.T.F.) to fund the new current genealogical testing initiative. The funds will cover genealogical testing for cases within the last four years where a violent crime was committed—the G.O.L.D.
The Unit will review cases submitted by law enforcement agencies in Cuyahoga County to see if they are viable for genealogical testing. Specifically, there are three significant components to qualify a patient for review for genealogical testing.
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