Sexual Assault Backlog Elimination Program in Los Angeles County

Transcription

1 Sexual Assault Backlog Elimination Program in Los Angeles County Dean M. Gialamas Director, Scientific Services Bureau NIJ Grantee s Meeting October 26, 2010 San Diego, CA

2 Overview Historical review of how LA Sheriff came to have a sexual assault kit (SAK) backlog How the SAK backlog was addressed Why backlogs are a false metric Review of statistics from the LA Sheriff SAK Backlog Project The next steps for LA Sheriff

3 LA County Overview Los Angeles County Overview 10.9 million residents, 4,000 square miles 88 cities, with 47 independent city police departments Crime Lab provides DNA services to ALL jurisdictions except for one: City of Los Angeles Full-Service Crime Laboratory Sheriff s Department (including Contract Cities) 47 Independent City Police Departments >50 Other Law Enforcement Agencies ~300 Sworn and Professional Staff >80,000 evidence submissions each year

4 A Backlog Emerges Local attention brought issue forward LAPD SAK development Several Los Angeles Times articles Report by Human Rights Watch Concerns raised by local Rape Treatment Centers Resulted in the Sheriff making policy decision that all SAK s submitted to the lab will be tested

5 The Inventory Phase A total of 6,030 cases were inventoried by hand This number grew to 6,723 after an additional 693 kits were located after the initial inventory The total represented every SAK at the lab, our central property warehouse, and outside agencies combined While the inventory was being completed, a database was created and pertinent data was entered and tracked

6 The Inventory Phase Data review was conducted to determine how many SAK s had already been worked 1,960 kits were already analyzed This was 33% of the total inventory And that left 4,763 unanalyzed SAK s ~70% LA Sheriff cases ~30% Outside Agency (non-sheriff) cases We went from ~25 cases in our existing backlog to 6,723 in a matter of days!

7 The False Metric of Backlog Backlog is a measure of inputs NOT a measure of efficiency NIJ Convicted Offender backlog Backlog is meaningless when compared to productivity or turnaround time Orange County example Policy makers rely on backlogs (and we fall victim to it as well!) as a measure of success Backlogs (i.e., change of inputs) cannot be controlled by the laboratory They are controlled by the crime rate, client needs, etc. May be influenced by crime lab policies (e.g., sample limitations)

8 The Survey Phase We decided to triage the cases based on potential probative value Designed an audit questionnaire that was sent to each station / agency Two week turnaround on the surveys This proved to be inadequate for agencies and stations with hundreds of SAK s Overall, about 75% of the surveys were completed and returned Follow-up was conducted on those who did not respond

9 The Survey Phase When the audit forms were returned, categories were developed to prioritize the cases for testing Cat I Unknown suspect Cat II Known suspect Cat III DA reject Cat IV Adjudicated Cat V Incomplete audit returns Cat VI Elements of crime not established

10 The Current Inventory Numbers* * As of October 1, 2010 SAK Project Initial Case Inventory LASD % of Total Number of SAK Cases Inventoried 6, % Number of Analyzed Cases in Inventory 1,960 29% Number of Unanalyzed Cases in Inventory 4,763 71% Audit Return Category Breakdown % of Total Unknown Suspect (Cat I) 20% Known Suspect (Cat II) 8% DA Reject (Cat III) 28% Adjudicated (Cat IV) 24% Incomplete Audit Returns (Cat V) 15% No Crime Committed (Cat VI) 5%

11 The Testing (Outsourcing) Phase Could not be accomplished in-house with existing resources All testing (screening and profiling) was outsourced Utilized 5 contract private labs Took time to set up contracts and perform lab audits Started with just 60 kits/month in Jan 2009 Currently sending over 500 kits/month CA-DOJ assisting with 25 kits/month Marshall University assisting with NIJ funding for 20 kits/month Outsourcing is paid for with NIJ Grant Funding, Local Prop 69 Funding, and Department funds

12 Some Benefits With every crisis comes opportunity Additional funds authorized by the Board of Supervisors to see that the project is completed Also requested additional personnel to deal with ~900 new SAK s annually plus CODIS reviews on outsourcing project 6 additional DNA analysts 1 additional DNA supervisor

13 Funding Breakdown Funding Source NIJ DNA Backlog Reduction Grants LA County Contribution Congressional Earmark Unit Budget Local Proposition 69 Funds Amount $2.8 Million $2.3 Million $1.0 Million $140,000 $27,000

14 Overview of Current Data Test Results to Date Outsourced 100% of identified untested SAK s Results on 3,541 kits returned 36% had negative biological material screen 64% had positive biological material screen 30% qualified for CODIS upload 30% failed to meet CODIS upload requirements 40% pending data and CODIS review (of which, 200 are unknown suspect cases) From the Public Perspective Outsourcing costs to date are over $3.1 million (approx. $880/kit on average) This figure does NOT include the in-house examiner costs for outsourcing, data review or testimony Total number of cold hits: 305 Total number that lead to prosecution 2 Most hits are either under investigation or did not result in criminal filings

15 Looking Back What Worked What Didn t Work Taking the time to inventory and fully assess the problem Using existing performance metrics to project the time involved and staff necessary, including the outsourcing steps and the CODIS reviews Having the immediate Chain of Command understand the issues HIGHLY dedicated and motivated staff We did not have a LIMS system capable of handing this type of dilemma had to build our own databases on the fly Did not account for Evidence staff, who were overwhelmed with large numbers of requests Convincing the policy makers that this may not be the best strategy NIJ/CSULA research on the topic Dr. Joe Peterson

16 Looking Forward Automation & Technology Robotics, LIMS Batching New on-line submission forms Struggling with increased follow-up by investigators on CODIS hits Need increased productivity on CODIS reviews Currently working on emphasis on automated artificial intelligence mixture interpretation software The future bottleneck (turn-around time) will be more dependent on the speed of information flow rather than technology innovation

17 The End Result Our goals are all the same: Provide information to the criminal justice system to hold those who commit crimes accountable and exonerate those who are wrongly accused.

18 Thank You! Dean M. Gialamas (323)