BSRancer...
DNA cases pile up at crime lab
STRUGGLE: Analysis is labor-intensive, which means Inland authorities must wait for the results.
10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, May 6, 2006
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In October, a 41-year-old woman was walking near downtown Fontana late at night when a man she didn't know pushed her to the ground, tore off her clothes and raped her.
As in most sexual assault cases, the woman was given a forensic evaluation at a hospital. Samples of the rapist's DNA were found on her body, but it would take nearly six months for the DNA to lead to an arrest.
The delay from crime to arrest is typical and represents a challenge the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Crime Lab and labs across the country face when trying to catch criminals through the labor-intensive process of DNA analysis.
"There is always a need for additional help and additional equipment," said John Kochis, San Bernardino County's chief deputy district attorney, who oversees the prioritization of DNA submissions to the Sheriff's Department crime lab.
Currently, the lab has a backlog of 261 DNA cases. That amounts to more than a year of work for the lab's five trained DNA analysts and three trainees. On average, analysts process about three cases a month, said crime lab Director Craig Ogino.
Two new positions have been approved, but it will be two years before the new hires and all the trainees are fully qualified, Ogino said.
Sheriff Gary Penrod's budget wish list for next year includes a request for a new $25 million crime lab and about $440,000 to pay for four more DNA analysts.
"This is really the first time the crime lab has made that list, so we are very hopeful," Ogino said.
In the meantime, the lab must work on prioritized cases and law enforcement agencies must wait in line for test results, officials said.
A priority homicide or rape case can take 14 weeks to process, which is much faster than the state's average of 26 weeks, according to Ogino and the state attorney general's office.
If a case is considered particularly heinous or the evidence must be ready for court, the lab can get results within days, but other priority cases get bumped, Ogino said.
Riverside Police Department spokesman Steven Frasher said his department prefers to use the sheriff's crime lab for DNA testing because the turnaround times are faster than at other labs.
San Bernardino police Detective Mike Desrochers said the time to get results varies, but he's also pleased with the lab's turnaround time.
Desrochers expects DNA results soon that could identify two suspects in a February 2005 slaying of a 49-year-old man at a motel.
"We have a suspect on video, but we don't know who he is," Desrochers said. "If he's ever been in the system ... we'll have his name."
DNA cases represent a fraction of the work processed at the sheriff's lab, which serves law enforcement agencies in San Bernardino County and some agencies in Riverside County. For instance, in 2005, the lab completed about 150 DNA cases and 2,800 criminalistics cases, which include firearms, gunshot residue and arson, Ogino said.
Despite being a fraction of the cases, the DNA workload is labor-intensive and it's a struggle to keep up with the rising number of requests, Ogino and Kochis said.
Even with the two new positions, approved recently by the consortium of law enforcement agencies that fund the lab, staffing is still behind, Ogino said.
Submissions are skyrocketing in part because the crime lab began supplying sheriff's deputies with DNA collection kits they can take into the field, Ogino said.
In September, the lab received 25 DNA submissions. In December, there were 51 and in April there were 103, he said.
"We're not pushing it too hard right now until we have the analysts, but it's better to have the evidence than not have the evidence," Ogino said.
Reach Lisa B. McPheron at (909) 806-3064 or lmcpheron@PE.com
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