A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, ON BEHALF OF THE MIAMI BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT, TO ACCEPT A DONATION OF $25,000 FROM THE GREATER MIAMI/MIAMI BEACH POLICE FOUNDATION, INC., A FLORIDA NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION, TO BE USED BY THE MIAMI BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT TO FUND CERTAIN COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE UTILIZATION OF THE ANDE 6C RAPID DNA ANALYSIS SYSTEM, WHICH AIDS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY INVESTIGATING AND SOLVING CRIMES.

In November 2017, Miami Beach residents Al Eskanazy and Barry Skolnick established the Greater Miami/Miami Beach Police Foundation, Inc. (the Foundation) as a non-profitable corporation in the state of Florida. As stated in the Foundation’s Articles of Incorporation, “this organization is primarily dedicated to the welfare of police officers and first responders in times of distress or fraternity as well as to support efforts of law enforcement in providing reward funds for witnesses to come forward with significant information leading to an arrest and/or conviction. The organization will also assist in community outreach to build awareness and support of law enforcement and to strengthen community relations through participation, events, and scholarship programs.”

During the December 13, 2017 Commission Meeting, a resolution was adopted by acclamation, “acknowledging and supporting the efforts of Mr. Al Eskanazy and Mr. Barry Skolnick in forming the Police Foundation of Greater Miami and Miami Beach, a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, for the purpose of establishing a police reward fund to provide assistance to the crime-fighting efforts of the Miami Beach Police Department (Resolution 2017-30115).”

American law enforcement must still rely today on a laboratory scientist’s test of a DNA sample. DNA laboratory testing is so time consuming -- often taking months due to backlogs -- and so costly that police departments across the country request such analysis on only a small percentage of cases. The MBPD’s DNA analysis is performed by the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Forensic Services Bureau. This Crime Lab must perform the DNA analysis for 35 police agencies in a county with 2.7 million residents and significant crime. As such, our Department and every other law enforcement agency in the county must limit and prioritize such requests.

Since April 2017, the MBPD has been field testing one of the leading Rapid DNA instruments on the market, the ANDE 6C Rapid DNA Analysis System. The Miami Beach Police Department is the only police agency in the country being permitted to fully field test this particular instrument in this manner.  The continued use of this Rapid DNA instrument for crime scene field work by police technicians as contemplated by MBPD has an associated cost which the Greater Miami / Miami Beach Police Foundation, Inc. is offering to help fund.

The MBPD expects that as its use of the Rapid DNA instrument becomes known among colleague police departments in Miami-Dade County, there will be requests by some agencies to have select DNA evidence analyzed as well.  Provided these agencies agree to follow MBPD’s and Miami-Dade’s protocols for evidence collection and analysis, our Department expects to have the capacity to honor these requests and to include the results in the Initiative’s findings.

Based on the early use of the Rapid DNA instrument, the Department is confident the instrument will aid in our crime-reduction efforts. Detective supervisors have already used the technology in multiple cases to eliminate suspects and to avoid wasting investigative resources on false leads. This kind of efficiency in use of resources is an additional attractive benefit of this technology.