Public Hearing: YES ? NO ? Department: District Attorney
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): all
Acceptance of $496,045 for the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program Grant to District Attorney's Office; no match required
Body
Information Contact: Sherry Boston or Roz Harris
Phone Number: 770-294-0369
PURPOSE:
To consider accepting $496,045 under the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Program's Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program Grant to the District Attorney's Office for the grant period of October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2025; and
To authorize the CEO to execute all necessary documents.
NEED/IMPACT:
Through BJA's FY 2022 Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program, the District Attorney's Office was the only prosecutor's office, and one of only six applicants nationwide, to receive funding to catalog, report, and identify human remains, and then return identified bodies to appropriate family members. The DeKalb Medical Examiner's Office currently has a count of twenty-seven bodies or human remains, some dating back several decades, which now could be identifiable with the improvements in complex DNA analysis, yet have not been tested due to resource availability. The funding will allow for the processing, investigation, identification, and return of these remains via a collaborative between members of the existing DeKalb Multidisciplinary Cold Case Team, including the D.A., Medical Examiner, Police Department, and the GBI, FBI, and ATF. Public and private genetic genealogical testing labs, and forensic anthropologists, genealogists, and odontologists (dentists) will also be utilized in this project.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No additional or matching funds are required, and no additional funds are needed to develop the initiative; no funds are being requested.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Accept $496,045 under DOJ's Off...
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