The Kirksville City Council voted on Wednesday night to approve a partnership that will allow Kirksville to have its own DNA lab. Council members signed the partnership between the city and California based company Human Identification Technologies.
The City of Kirksville will have its own scientists working the lab. The city attorney says the city will pay their salaries and will be allowed 15 DNA tests each month. But the scientists will also work on other cases and the city hopes those will earn enough money to cover their salaries. The city attorney says if for some reason they don’t make enough money to pay their salaries, then the California company will have to step in and make up the difference.
Police Chief Jim Hughes says it used to take months and months to get DNA results back, but that won’t be the case anymore. “This lab will pretty much guarantee results in less than 30 days and you can get them quicker if there’s some kind of emergency situation so we’re looking forward to that,” Hughes said.
According to the city attorney, the partnership will end up costing the city no additional money. Human Identification Technologies will benefit from the partnership because an affiliation with a municipality like the Kirksville Police Department will allow them easier access to an online DNA database.
To see a copy of the agreement click on the link below.
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