The economic spanish downturn comes to the laboratories of DNA of the Scientific Police.
Before the inability to realize the DNA tests for lack of reagents, numerous analyses are late and part of the staff of the laboratories of DNA in the Scientific Police they redistributed.
The analytical tests constitute a fundamental tool nowadays for the resolution of certain cases. This way the detection of biological fluids as blood, saliva or semen and the persons’ later identification across the comparison of DNA has turned into the test reigns in the resolution of certain crimes, specially with the great advance of the genetics by means of the use of the chain reaction of the polymerase or PCR, technology that allows to realize great number of copies of a certain fragment of DNA for very small that is this. It is not of surprising that from approximately 200 samples for year that was analyzed for the 80s when a central laboratory created in Madrid up to more than 3.000 samples for year that was begun to analyze from the year 2002 I lead to creating laboratories in some Provincial Brigades of Scientific Police salesmen on the provincial Police headquarters.
But the current economic spanish downturn that we suffer has managed to come also up to these laboratories and in I make concrete up to this type of tests. Especially the lack of reagents in the laboratories to process the samples gathered in the ocular inspections and that come up to these, has provoked a collapse of samples without analyzing, it estimates that more than 5.000 samples, a consistent delay in the resolution of the topics and emission of expert reports and even a redistribution of workforce of personnel that have been momentarily destined for other sections of the same Brigade of Scientific Police to reinforce other groups that needed reinforcements, as they confirm sources of the Union of Policeman.
The increase of crimes from the year 2007, specially against the property, provoked very probably by the economic crisis, has duplicated the number of biological samples that come up to the forensic laboratories of DNA for his analysis. On the other hand it is impossible to establish an average of the samples gathered in every case to analyze that in the crimes most complicated to resolve since they are the homicides they can exceed 50 samples gathered by case as what every matter has different costs representing a problem to establish the budgets to assigning to this type of tests. In any case with the new technologies, the average cost of every test is valued for approximately 100 Euros for what if we bear in mind that a year they can manage to enter up to approximately 6.000 samples to analyze we meet a budget of 60.000 Euros only for this type of tests. When we hear these enormous numbers destined for the necessary investigation of crimes to give justice, always us the consistent question comes to the mind would not it be more profitable to invest more in prevention?
