Amanda M. Usher | The Valdosta Daily TimesA wand attached to the M-Vac, a machine used for DNA collections, can be used to extract DNA from any material.

HAHIRA – Extracting DNA from various materials is now more efficient for the Hahira Police Department, which recently obtained new M-Vac equipment. 

The $40,000 machine can collect DNA from any material source and is primarily used in sexual assault, rape and homicide cases.

The HPD acquired the M-Vac by way of a grant from Operation Underground Railroad, a nonprofit that focuses on human trafficking and sexual assaults. 

Hahira Police Lt. Todd Pitchford said his department is the first local agency in Georgia to have the M-Vac.

In the past, law enforcement had to collect DNA samples by doing swabs, he said. 

“This machine is basically like a shop vac for DNA,” he said of the M-Vac. “So, it’s a sterile system. The fluids and everything are gamma sterilized, so there’s nothing in the water.”

The equipment performs like a vacuum, with law enforcement utilizing a wand to suck up samples from the materials.  

The machine filters out everything except the DNA, which goes into a patch. The patches are then sent to a lab for DNA testing. 

“So, basically, that patch ends up like a swab,” Pitchford said, noting in other states, the M-Vac has been used to collect DNA from a rock, which helped a murder case, and has also gotten DNA from wood. 

He said the M-Vac is also being used in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in human trafficking cases. 

Jared Bradley, president of M-Vac Systems, said the machine has been used to solve multiple homicides and has been involved in drug cases.

He said authorities can use the machine however they need.

“If there’s DNA at the crime, and they can’t get it any other way, they now have a new capability to be able to collect that DNA and solve the case,” Bradley said. 

The HPD plans to regionally utilize the machine in any crimes, though a mandate is that law enforcement report data about sexual assaults to Operation Underground Railroad. 

Pitchford said law enforcement from agencies outside of Hahira can bring their evidence to the HPD for DNA collections, and then, take the samples to a lab for testing. 

The costs to change out filters and other parts of the machine between samples will be paid for by Operation Underground Railroad, he said.