Access to forensic institute database to aid police in investigations: report

New software will give the police access to Netherlands forensic institute NFI's database. The so-called 'DNA success meter' will help forensic investigators to immediately see which trace evidence they can send in for quick results, various employees of the organizations involved told De Telegraaf.

The DNA success meter was developed by the NFI, the police, the Public Prosecutor, and Hogeschool van Amsterdam. The goal is to ensure that the correct trace evidence is investigated and collected at a crime scene, so that the available capacity is optimally used. 

"It is an objective, software based tool that provides information about results from previous investigations", Matthijs Zuidberg, project leader at the NFI, said to the newspaper. "Data from criminal investigations between January 2014 and December 2017 can be used to help with the choices that forensic specialists have to make at a crime scene."

The new software is expected to be available to the police by autumn.