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A radical DNA testing machine that can deliver results in 90 minutes is set to be used across the US.

Arizona has become the first state to fully rollout the RapidHIT machine, and in August Richland County became the first force to use it to identify a subject in an attempted murder case.

It is also set to be used  by The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Justice Department for everything from finding criminals to scanning green card applicant - and who funded its development.

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The $250,000 RapidHIT , it can match swabs taken from a crime scene against a national DNA database and produce a match quickly.

The $250,000 RapidHIT is already being used in a few states, as well as China, Russia, Australia, and countries in Africa and Europe.

Developed by IntegenX in the US and Key Forensic Services in the UK, it can match swabs taken from a crime scene against a national DNA database and produce a match quickly.

'The RapidHIT system has successfully produced full profiles from very diverse samples such as teeth, bottle necks, hat sweatbands, cigarette butts, clothing, and several touch swabs,' the firm behind it, IntegenX, said.

The portable device, which looks a bit like a printer, can take DNA and produce the result much quicker than modern DNA systems.

Most importantly, the device does not require any specific specialist knowledge to be used.

All it requires is that someone input a sample of DNA, and it will then cross-reference the sample with the DNA database.

It takes about three minutes for a user to input the a swab into the system and begin the analysis.

Results on DNA matches will then be produced in less than two hours - and the device can even process seven samples simultaneously.

However, Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is particularly concerned that law enforcement agencies will use the devices to scoop up and store ever more DNA profiles.

'I could see that happening in the future as the prices of these machines go down,' she said. 

The US government will soon test the machine in refugee camps in Turkey and possibly Thailand on families seeking asylum in the United States, according to Chris Miles, manager of the Department of Homeland Security's biometrics program. 

'We have all these families that claim they are related, but we don't have any way to verify that,' he told Motherjones.

The rapid DNA testing will be voluntary, though refusing a test could cause an asylum application to be rejected.

Miles also says that federal immigration officials are interested in using rapid DNA to curb trafficking by ensuring that children entering the country are related to the adults with them.

Police have started using rapid DNA in Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina. 

how it works: This graphic shows how police forces use the system to check a criminal's ID

On Aug 6, the Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced an arrest using the RapidHIT to identify Brandon Berry; charged with attempted murder and armed robbery.

Richland County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene investigators collected DNA from the suspects clothing. 

The DNA samples were turned over to the Richland County Sheriff's Department Forensics Lab. Using RapidHIT, investigator positively identified the DNA samples as belonging to the victim.

The Sheriff stated that with the RapidHIT not only saved them time as the suspect was identified within 2 hours, but more importantly allowed investigator get the criminal off the streets quickly, which prohibits them from committing additional crimes. 

The UK Home Office has invested £431,000 ($732,000) in development of 'Rapid DNA' as part of the Police Innovation Fund. Through the endeavour they are hoping to improve the accuracy and speed of identifying suspects at a crime scene, and prevent instances of false identification

'The Arizona rapid DNA system can provide officers with investigative leads faster than ever before. In cases with appropriate samples, officers can perform the rapid DNA analysis and search the database in hopes of obtaining a preliminary identification of a suspect, rather than waiting weeks or months for laboratory results,' said Vince Figarelli, Crime Lab Superintendent at AZ-DPS.

'The Arizona DPS deployment is a significant step for US Law Enforcement in preventing crimes with DNA,' commented Robert Schueren, President and Chief Executive Officer of IntegenX. 'Generating real-time search results will provide tremendous safety benefits to the residents of Arizona'. 

the system is also being used internationally. 

Earlier this year, according to The Times, £431,000 ($732,000) was been given by the Home Office to the Police Innovation Fund to forces in Lancashire and Nottinghamshire to introduce faster DNA procedures.