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Visionary "DNA Project" taking action against crime with support from the industry

FIVESTAR PR seeks web design company to volunteer its services to create, maintain and host a website for this vitally important anti-crime initiative.

Cape Town based PR consultancy, FIVESTAR PR has taken the DNA Project on board as a social responsibility project, and is looking for a web design company, preferably in Cape Town, to volunteer its services to create, maintain and host a website for this vitally important anti-crime initiative.

Media partnerships and corporate sponsorship of the DNA PROJECT are also being called for and will provide a unique opportunity for major corporations to make a public, meaningful contribution to the war on crime, and the well-being of South Africa and its people.

For more information visit http://www.fivestarpr.co.za/projects.html

More about the DNA Project

The DNA Project is supported by Commissioner Piet du Toit, Head of SA’s Forensics Science Laboratory. The aim of the DNA Project is:

  • To assist the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to increase its capacity to process DNA samples for profiling and storage on its national DNA database (known in SA as the National DNA Criminal Intelligence Database ‘NDCID’), and to raise funds to purchase essential DNA profiling equipment for the three main forensic science laboratories in Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. Equipment ranges from minor essentials such as surgical scissors, to camera equipment and DNA profiling machines to the tune of R3m per set of DNA profiling machinery. The purchasing and supplying of equipment is an ongoing function of the trust and we are continually in the process of deciding on and allocating funds for this purpose.

  • To increase awareness and educate the public in terms of their rights at the crime scene, and the practical applications and possibilities of ensuring that the integrity of DNA evidence is maintained, and is capable of being uplifted at a crime scene.

  • DNA is a powerful tool as, besides identical twins, each person’s DNA is different from every other individual’s. Because of unique DNA, evidence collected from a crime scene, as in the case of fingerprints, can either positively link, or exonerate a suspect to the particular crime. Evidence from one crime scene may be compared favourably with evidence from another, and crime scenes can be linked to the same perpetrator nationwide. And if the forensics lab has the suspect’s DNA on record, and the suspect is in custody, the legal process is straight forward as the police now have a direct means to link the suspect to the crime. On the other hand, DNA can also assist the police to identify a victim through the DNA of relatives.

    The next step: Cape Town

    The DNA Project is now focusing its work on the Western Cape to assist with increasing the capacity of the lab to process more samples. Rape kits and DNA samples remain unprocessed whilst offenders are being released, and are re-offending, because the samples are just not being processed and stored fast enough to set up a case against the suspected offenders. The Western Cape Forensics Lab desperately requires new DNA profiling machinery and funds raised in the Western Cape will go towards supporting this lab.


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