DNA Technology Expansion Pitched By Lower Bucks Lawmakers

LOWER BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Three Lower Bucks County legislators will hold a press conference in Harrisburg on Wednesday morning to discuss DNA technology.

Reps. Joe Hogan (R-Bucks) and KC Tomlinson (R-Bucks), along with Sen. Frank Farry (R-Bucks), will speak on legislation that expands the number of DNA samples in the criminal justice system.

The legislation will require the collection of DNA samples from persons arrested for serious violent or sexual crimes.

These samples will be no different, practically speaking, than the established process of taking an arrestee’s fingerprints, legislators said.

The press conference will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, Room 1 of the Capitol Media Center in the East Wing of the State Capitol in Harrisburg.

Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran and Ashley Spence, a rape survivor and advocate for DNA technology, will also be in attendance.

Bensalem is the only police department in Bucks Countywith the state-of-the-art Thermo-Fischer Rapid Hit ID DNA testing instrument. The Montgomery District Attorney's Office also possesses the DNA technology.

The new accelerated testing program allows Bensalem Police to gather real-time results with DNA samples, in as little as 90 minutes, offering law enforcement the ability to test DNA evidence from a crime scene.

That technology was used to identify the four boys who were found buried in Solebury Township several years ago by using DNA samples from their toothbrushes.