NEWS RELEASE:

On Oct. 15, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Gerald Bailey recognized members of Florida’s DNA Database with the Superior Unit Medal for their exemplary performance. At a presentation made at FDLE Headquarters, Commissioner Bailey praised the 23 member team for their work to successfully expand the Database to include all convicted felons.

“These professionals operate one of the state’s most powerful crime-fighting tools,” said Commissioner Gerald Bailey. “By working as a team while remaining focused, they tackled a huge influx of submissions over a relatively short time period. I’m proud of how efficiently they handled this challenge and of their continued commitment to public safety.”

The DNA Database matches DNA profiles left at crime scenes to the DNA of convicted offenders. Beginning in 2000, FDLE has worked with the Legislature to phase-in the addition of felony convictions to the Database. In July of 2007, the Database received funding for the last phase of the expansion to include offenders convicted on all remaining felony offenses and certain misdemeanor offenses. This final phase resulted in more than 240,000 offender samples entered into the Database during a 24 month period.

Florida’s DNA Database is one of the largest in the country and contains more than 639,000 convicted offender samples. Each month approximately 230 “hits” are identified through the DNA Database which has aided more than 11,000 investigations since its inception in 1990. Florida’s DNA Database contributes approximately 8.4 percent of the offender profiles to the national CODIS system and nearly 11 percent of the nation’s “hits” are identified through the DNA Database.

The Superior Unit Medal is awarded to a team, task force, or work unit for exceptional meritorious performance. The medal is part of the FDLE Commendation Medal Program which was established in 2007 to recognize members for acts of heroism, bravery, and exemplary accomplishment.

The following members received the citation: Crime Lab Technicians Crystal Avant, Terri Bremer, Kathy Cox, Michelle Dixon, Benjamin Lozowski, M. Brannan Riley, Jake Shanahan, Mike Van Camp, Amanda Prochaska, Jhazmin Smith and Frances Wenhold; Forensic Technologists William Fickbohm, Jonathan Gilbert and Keith Tucker; Crime Laboratory Analysts Dan Burkholder, Theresa Hoskins and Heather Parrish; Senior Crime Laboratory Analysts Sherri Ferrante, and Scott Whitney; Senior Crime Laboratory Analyst/State CODIS Administrator Mary Cortese; Distributed Computer Systems Consultant Brian Draper and Crime Laboratory Analyst Supervisors Chris Carney and Lisa Bohl.

For Further Information Contact:

Heather Smith, Kristen Perezluha or Mike Morrison
FDLE Office of Public Information
(850) 410-7001