The DNA Awareness Training Workshop was held last week in Cape Town. The aim of the workshop was to finalise our training protocols and training manual in order that our new Trainers may start to host  national DNA awareness workshops by August 2010. It was a privilege to be able to work with some of the best scientific minds that we have in this country. Not only did we manage to achieve our objective within the time allocated, but we had fun doing it too. We now need to let key sectors of the community know that we want to teach them how to preserve critical DNA evidence for proper collection by the Crime Scene Investigators. We plan to do this by hosting training sessions throughout SA, funding the cost of those training sessions and by providing free information booklets to each of the participants at the end of the workshop.

Dr Hancock

Below is an excerpt form the letter we will be emailing to CPF’s, security guard companies, paramedics, the NPA and whoever else we feel would benefit form learning about the preservation of DNA evidence. Let’s all work together to create a greater awareness in SA as to the value of this incrdible crime fighting tool.

Vanessa.

Prof Corfield

We would like to take this opportunity to tell you about a DNA Awareness Campaign that is currently being run by our organization, The DNA Project is committed to addressing the unacceptably high levels of crime in South Africa through the use of DNA evidence. To put it very simply DNA profiling has replaced fingerprinting as the forensic tool of choice to be used by investigators to link suspects to a crime scene. It is highly effective as DNA can be extracted from any cell in the body. This means that evidence can be collected from biological material left at a crime scene such as hair, semen, saliva, sweat, blood and skin cells. Therefore, this technology can be used to match DNA profiles of suspects with those of “stains” found at crime scenes thereby bringing about crime resolution for numerous crimes including murder, rape and burglary.

Dr Rebello

The training workshops and information booklet will provide the following information:

1. A simple summary of DNA, the techniques of DNA profiling and the benefits of a National DNA Criminal Intelligence Database in crime investigation.
2. The responsibilities of the first people who arrive at a crime scene with potential DNA evidence.
3. The responsibilities of the “first attending” South African police officers, as well as the responsibilities of specialized crime scene investigators, at the crime scene.
4. The potential sources, locations and limitations of DNA evidence.
5. The correct handling and packaging of samples from crime scenes, suspects and complainants.

Please let us know if you or your organization would be interested in helping us host a training session/s and we will send you further information. Please email Maya, our training coordinator at maya@dnaproject.co.za . We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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