Events

Virtual DOJ-BJA Forensic Genetic Genealogy Training

March 29, 2023

SAKI TTA, on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), will be hosting a virtual training on Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023. The FBI Investigative Genealogy (IG) team will be leading this 1-day training which will serve as an updated refresher course to the 3-day event held in Spring 2022.

This training will provide an opportunity for all applicable BJA-funded grantees and non-funded jurisdictions to discuss best practices, identify approaches to common challenges, and collaborate with partners to further the successful implementation of FGG into their investigative workflows.

Course highlights include:

  • An introduction to the FBI's Investigative Genealogy Program.
  • Demonstrations of applicable tools in GEDmatch PRO™ and FTDNA.
  • A discussion on how to identify matches, estimate relationships between matches and determine which matches' trees should be built.
  • A session on reference and surreptitious collections.

Prerequisite Information

Those interested in attending this 1-day course must meet one of the following requirements:

  • Attended the 3-day DOJ-BJA Virtual FGG training that was held on March 29 - April 1, 2022. The certificate received from last year's event will be required as proof of attendance.
  • Completion of the online archived DOJ-BJA Virtual FGG training. Please note, due to law enforcement sensitivities, the FBI presentations held during the 3-day live event were not recorded and thus, are not available as part of this archived version. The archived training will serve as a general overview of the FGG process and will provide the necessary foundation for the upcoming 1-day refresher course. The archived training is entitled "OVCCC: Forensic Genetic Genealogy Training" and can be found here: https://academy.sakitta.org/. Certificate of completion will be required for proof of attendance.

Who should attend?

Priority attendance will be given to law enforcement, prosecutors, and criminal intelligence analysts. Other attendees will be considered as space permits. Attendance is encouraged from those participating in the following BJA-funded grantee programs:

  • National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI)
  • Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)
  • Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and Training and Technical Assistance Program
  • Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA
  • Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence
  • Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes
  • Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)
  • Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Site Based and Training and Technical Assistance Program

Representatives from non-funded jurisdictions and the Federal government are also encouraged to register, however priority will be given to BJA grantees.

This training is open for all applicable BJA grant programs; however the meeting will be limited to 500 participants. Each jurisdiction is encouraged to carefully review the event agenda and be intentional when selecting attendees.

This training will not be archived and must be viewed live.

Certificates of attendance will be distributed to those in attendance for the full training.

Attendance will be tracked using Zoom. Attendees must be logged in with their unique Zoom link to receive their certificate of attendance.

Contact SAKI TTA

Do you need any assistance with technical issues? Let us help you.

Contact the SAKI help desk at sakitta@rti.org.

The SAKI TTA Team, led by RTI International, received funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to support other violent cold case crimes including homicides, attempted homicides, kidnappings, and missing and unidentified persons associated with suspicious circumstances. This focus area is designed to help SAKI sites to expand their efforts to combat additional violent cold case crimes and identify serial offenders through the application of advanced forensic and investigative techniques.

For questions related to SAKI TTA's Other Violent Cold Case Crimes focus area, please contact Ashley Rodriguez (ashleyrodriguez@rti.org).