I’m watching Dateline and this suspect left a police interview and committed another murder. The first cops couldn’t arrest him because their evidence was all circumstantial. While they are looking for him now, the voiceover says DNA results are still not back. At this point it’s been several weeks. So Eli5 – DNA results: wtf takes so long?
Is there only one machine in the world? Can’t they move murder cases to the front of the line? Does the DNA fairy only come once a month? Does DNA take 500 hours to marinate? Can the cops buy another DNA machine? Do we need a GoFundMe?
In: 6
ELI5: It comes down to a lot more demand for testing than available testers. It also is a time consuming process which takes around nine hours per batch. Resource allocation may also be a factor, which like you infer, sends the most severe cases to the front of the line.
Source: am cop who submits DNA swabs regularly on cases. Obviously this is a very generic comment. Actual times and reasons may differ across the United States and other countries.
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