Rapid DNA Booking Station - Implementation Considerations and Best Practices
Every minute that a crime remains unsolved is time for someone else to become a victim. With Rapid DNA, suspects can now be identified or excluded in as little as 90 min. In this webinar, learn how to successfully harness the power of Rapid DNA in the booking station -- from two experts with many years of experience implementing successful DNA databasing programs. It’s time to expedite crime-solving with Rapid DNA. Key topics explored by these experts include: • Key requirements for deploying a successful Rapid DNA booking station program, including Live Scan and criminal history information integration. • Building successful partnerships between law enforcement agencies and CODIS DNA laboratories. • Best practices and tips based on real world testing in the booking station environment
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Identifying & Excluding Suspects Faster-The Louisiana State Police & East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office Rapid DNA Program
Empowering arrestee booking with rapid DNA A state police crime laboratory and sheriff’s department partnered to improve crime-fighting using the latest DNA testing technology
Hello, and welcome to RapidDNA Booking Station, Implementation Considerations
and Best Practices,
brought to you by Forensic and Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific.
This is the second webinar in the five-part 2021 Future Trends in Forensic DNA
Technology
Series.
My name is Michelle Taylor, Editor-in-Chief of Forensic, and I will be your
moderator throughout.
For today's webinar, you can earn one hour of continuing education credit.
In the conclusion of the webinar, you will receive an email with information on
how to
obtain CE Credit Documentation.
We have a great lineup scheduled to present to you today, but before we begin,
I'd like
to take a moment to cover just a few logistics.
At the end of presentations, we will hold a question and answer session.
To ask a question, click on the Ask a Question tab in the upper right corner of
your screen.
Please also take note that the right side of the screen features an overview of
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webinar, as well as more information about our speakers.
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Connection"
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your friends and colleagues.
First, you will hear from Joni Bracado, who is the department head of the
Clinical Laboratory
Science program at Louisiana State University Health Science Center.
In addition, she acts as a rapid DNA user group facilitator and implementation
advisor
for agencies seeking to implement rapid DNA responsibly and efficiently.
Previously, Joni worked at the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory for 17
years as the
DNA manager for both forensic casework and codis.
Louisiana was an early adopter of arrestee legislation and successfully
integrated arrestee
collections into the live-scan AFIS booking process in the early 2000s.
Next, you will hear from Chris Carney.
For the past 11 years, Chris has worked on initiatives to advance rapid DNA
technology,
including collaborations to develop a seamless interface for rapid DNA systems
at booking
into a fully electronic process requiring no human intervention for data entry
or DNA
data review.
Chris has more than 27 years of forensic experience, including extensive
knowledge of information
technology systems supporting DNA data-basing laboratories.
At the end of the two presentations, Captain Craig Carroll will briefly share
his experience
with rapid DNA from the law enforcement perspective.
Craig has more than 25 years of correctional law enforcement experience with
the Leon County
Sheriff's Office.
He is currently the captain over the Operations Bureau, which includes
responsibility for intake,
leasing, court, and medical services.
His agency has been working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on
rapid arrestee
DNA testing at booking.
Thank you for coming to our second webinar in the 2021 Future Trends in
Forensic DNA Technology
series.
Mark your calendars because the five-part series continues on June 17.
Please be sure to check your email for more information on how to obtain CE
credit documentation
for your participation in today's webinar.
I mean, look forward to seeing you next time.
So welcome to the Rapid DNA Booking Station implementation best practices web
inar.
I'm Joanie Burkata and I'm going to go through an overview of some of the
things needed to
implement testing via Rapid DNA right at the booking station.
And then Chris will follow up and really touch on some of the policies,
procedures, and the
process known as authority operate that is required to perform this testing.
And then I'll really talk about some of his real life experiences on a pilot
done in Florida.
So let's get started.
All right.
So this is just some of the things that we're going to talk about today.
We're going to go through the impact of Rapid DNA.
We're going to go through kind of history of Rapid DNA.
We'll touch on some of the booking station requirements.
And then we'll spend some time talking about the critical points for
implementation and
approaches that some states and agencies have used.
And then we'll finish up with some of the funding and potential resources.
All right.
So let's begin with the impact of Rapid DNA in the booking station.
So remember today we're going to be focusing on booking station implementation
right.
But remember there's other uses for Rapid DNA.
Some are using them for investigational purpose so investigational leads.
Some states are looking at it for identification of deceased victims.
But today our focus is really going to be on the booking station.
All right.
So what I think it's important to actually be doing the DNA testing in the
booking station
at the time at a rest.
My point is that time matters.
If we take an example of a case.
So there was a case out of the Orleans area in which a female in December 2016
was jogging
along the Mississippi River Leve.
She was attacked from behind.
She was drunk down the levee and badly beaten and raped.
Then a profile was developed but no codice yet attained.
Then some almost two years later another victim around the same area right was
attacked, pulled
behind a grocery store, knocked unconscious and raped.
Once again same DNA profile but no codice yet.
Then it wasn't until October of 2019.
This individual Navari Henderson was arrested on a completely unrelated offense
He was arrested for domestic violence.
His DNA was collected at the rest the booking station collected innocent off to
the state
lab.
He was subsequently released from jail.
He fled Louisiana.
It wasn't until December of 2019 that his arrest sample is worked and it then
matches
to this 2016 and 2018 case.
It's at that time that they realized he had been released from prison and then
law enforcement
now has to go search for him.
It would be really important.
I mean we can really save some time if his DNA was able to have been run in
October of
2019 because a lot can happen between that collection and those actual results.
We're going to try and close some of those time gaps in this process.
What are some of those benefits?
We can improve our current same arrest sample collection compliance.
We need to look at really embedding that DNA analysis into the booking process.
In a lot of states they arrest someone.
They book someone.
They fingerprint someone.
Then the DNA collections is kind of like this side piece to that process.
We need to use this as an opportunity to really embed those arrest collection
into the booking
process.
Someone doesn't get booked without their fingerprints being collected.
We need to make it common practice that they don't get booked unless they're
fingerprints
and we know we have DNA for this person.
We can use it to prevent this sample.
The other thing, just as we explained previously.
We can get these results in as little as 90 minutes versus days, weeks or
months.
The whole goal is to really get these codus hits before the suspect is released
from custody.
What kind of impact can this have?
Obviously, the sooner we can identify a potential suspect, the better it is
closure wise for
victims, for families.
We can help prevent future victims.
Law enforcement.
We can really impact law enforcement safety and the manpower.
It takes a lot of manpower for this law enforcement then to get these hits and
then try and track
down now where is this individual.
Then ultimately we can even reduce the loads that are on some of our very tax
crime labs
by performing some of this testing right there in the booking station.
If we take just a very high level simplistic view of how this collection might
happen in
the booking station, let's go through that.
Someone's arrested and they're booked and then we're going to swab the rest of
the
sheet and collect the DNA right there at the booking station.
We then can put that swab into the rapid DNA instrument and really within up to
90 minutes
we can generate a DNA profile that then can be searched in codus.
When it's searched, then a DNA profile hit could be generated.
Really, within just a couple hours, we could generate this hit.
Then the law enforcement agencies at the booking station and at the
investigating agency can
be notified that this individual is currently in custody and then they can
start the steps
to evaluating that codus hit.
This in general lets just touch back on some of the rapid DNA timeline.
So in 2017, a rapid DNA app was passed.
It basically authorized the FBI to develop standards and procedures for the use
of rapid
DNA.
Since that time, the real focus has been on booking station procedures,
policies, how
is codus going to function.
In 2018, there were updates to the codus software to be able to perform some of
these tasks and
how some of the new data that was needed.
In 2019, the FBI performed a pilot of these booking stations with five key
states.
So Arizona, Florida, California, Texas, and Louisiana performed these booking
station
pilot studies.
And then in 2020, there was issuance of standards and procedures that needed to
be followed in
order to perform rapid DNA testing in the booking station.
So this really set the stage now for states and laboratories and law
enforcement to be
able to comply with these procedures and hopefully go live in 2021 with this
actually occurring
in the booking station.
Alright, so when we look at some of these booking station requirements, let's
talk about what
we're talking about.
So first of all, these four, for the United States, right, these are the three
guidance
documents that have been issued in 2020 by the FBI.
And they're basically the operational procedures manual and the requirements to
perform rapid
DNA testing in these booking stations.
If you're interested in doing this, you've got to take the time to read these
three critical
documents.
Alright, so what are some of the key program requirements, right?
So first of all, you've got to have legal authority for resty collection and
rapid DNA.
Now I do know in some states you may not have a resty legislation.
I know in some states I've heard them talk about in Louisiana particularly even
the ability
to collect your sex offender and your convicted offenders through this same
process.
Louisiana has a process where just for normal DNA, we bring those sex offenders
back to
a live skin instrument to collect those samples so we could also use that same
technology
for those as well.
Alright, then we need it in this approved rapid DNA systems.
Those now exist or in the final stages of approval.
And then a state has to apply for authority to operate from the FBI.
So your state codist laboratories will be doing this application and Chris is
going to go
through this in much more detail for us.
But basically embedded in there will be things such as training programs,
development of
statewide policy and procedures and then how are we going to audit these
booking stations.
So all of that isn't going to be embedded into those policies and procedures.
Now one of the critical first steps in all of this is really understanding
where is your
state currently with a resty collections, right?
How are you currently collecting those arresty samples?
One thing you need to know is that there's a process that already exists to
book people.
It's very standard to book someone through a live skin booking process.
And during this process the individual is booked and their fingerprints are
collected
and a lot of their data and information is collected at that time such as
fingerprints
and generation of what's called a state identification number.
That's a really critical point because it's really an idea that is specific for
that specific
person.
So when we talk about rapid DNA what we want to do is not recreate a process.
We really want to integrate that rapid DNA process into this booking station
system that
already exists.
All right, so don't close your computer on me.
This is just a workflow and I know it can seem a little overwhelming at first
but really
lets just kind of break it down to some simplistic points.
On the left hand side you can see one of these live skin instruments.
This is already where someone being arrested and booked has to stand up in
front of this
instrument to get their picture taken, to get their fingerprints taken.
And what we want to do is integrate our DNA collection into that process.
From there data can then be packaged up and sent over to the right hand side
which is
our rapid DNA instrument and related software.
We then would run the DNA sample and then package electronically the DNA
profile with
the rusty information.
That information can then be sent over to the CODIS laboratory CODIS work
station for
then a subsequent search within CODIS.
So what's important here is that there's many different ways to integrate into
this
system and it's all going to be dependent on what parts of the process does
your state
already have in place.
And so everybody's workflow may look slightly different depending on what parts
of the process
you already have in place.
Once again we don't want to reinvent the wheel here.
We want to integrate into what already exists.
So what are some critical points for implementation and approaches that have
been done?
So I've broken it down into three basic critical points.
So the first is this capture of a rusty information.
And then we're going to run the DNA profile and marry it with that and then we
've got
to send that message over to CODIS.
So how are we going to get that message to CODIS?
And then once it gets to CODIS and it can occurs how are we going to then
notify the
the rusty booking station and investigating law enforcement station that a hit
has occurred.
So let's go through some of that required information.
So the first is this capture of the rusty information.
And so according to some of these required documents, right, we need to be able
to generate
this arresti enrollment format.
This is a lot of information when you look at the bottom here.
It's really information that already exists at your live scan instrument.
So what we want to be able to do is then capture that data into a file.
And really your live scan vendors have been actively working on this.
And they now know how to create a file of just the information that is required
for
this process.
All right.
This is just an example of how Louisiana prior to rapid DNA already had access
to much
of this information.
So you can see here on the right.
This is a DNA sample collection sheet that Louisiana has been using for many,
many years.
And they basically are capturing that information right there out of the
electronic fingerprint
system.
And so most of all that data that's needed for that AEF file is right there at
the booking
station live scan instrument.
All right.
Now we need to marry up that that arresti information with that codus profile.
And there's many different ways that that might happen.
What's important for you to know is that really the live scan and the rapid DNA
vendors have
already developed these integrated methods to be able to combine this data.
So you need to really lean on those vendors and their IT support for the
generation of
this and know that they have been working already to really develop these integ
rations
and they already exist.
All right.
So as we begin to integrate the DNA collections into this booking station
process, there's
some real benefits that can come out of this integration process.
For one, you can integrate your state laws or your statute codes right there
into the
live scan instrument.
And so we take the manual process out of that.
We can use that software to really tell us automatically, is this a qualified
instance
for which DNA should be collected.
Louisiana has been integrated this way since about 2004.
The other thing that Louisiana really used this live scan integration to do is
to integrate
its codus laboratory system to the computerized criminal history process.
In other words, we can go in and flag the computerized criminal history to say
DNA is
already on file at the state lab.
And so therefore, we don't need another sample.
This is a great opportunity to really integrate that part of the process.
This is very powerful because it really helps decrease duplication and waste of
time and
consumables at the booking station.
So once again, we just want to really use this as an opportunity to integrate
into this
booking process that already exists.
All right.
So now we have our restee sample.
We have our restee information.
We run that sample.
We generate a DNA profile.
And now we've got to create this message, this codus message that then can be
sent to
codus.
Once again, this message is really just the marrying of that restee information
with
your codus profile.
And once again, the rapid DNA vendors have already figured out how to create
this rapid
import CNF file.
But that's how we're going to get our information into codus.
All right.
And finally, once we get the sample into codus, a search occurs and then we get
a hit.
Now what's different about the process?
The difference is that on a routine hit, law enforcement is usually notified
about a
codus hit either through a telephone call or a letter that is sent out, maybe
emailed
out, some notification system.
But now we really need to expedite that process because we need to notify them
that a hit has
occurred while that individual is still at the booking station.
All right.
So we need to notify the restee booking station, the investigating case agency
and the codus.
And so that is going to be done through a process that's called an unsolicited
DNA
hit notification.
And it's going to use the inlet system, which is basically a national law
enforcement telecommunication
system.
It is a program that law enforcement already monitors 24/7.
It's what is routinely used for their wants and warrants.
So once again, we're just going to piggyback on a process that law enforcement
already
has and already uses to send out these notifications very, very quickly.
All right.
The other thing is that the profiles that are being searched while at the
booking station,
right, are really just our most violent crimes.
It's going to be DNA profiles that have been put into this DNA index of special
concern
or disk profiles.
This is an index that contains sexual assault, homicide, kidnapping, terrorism,
right?
And they've got special data that has been added to those profiles, right?
We need to know who's investigating agents, who's the point of contact.
And so that data has been added to these program profiles.
So the laboratories do need to be working on populating this index and figuring
out how
to capture this extra information, such as sexual limitations on the particular
crime.
All right.
And then let's finally touch on funding and potential resources.
There are federal grants such as NIJ grants and BJA that already allow for
rapid DNA for
booking stations to be a qualifying use of those grant funds.
Additionally, there are congressional delegation earmarked funds that we have
recently found
out about.
So if you're interested in that, make sure you contact your congressional
delegation
to find out about those funds.
And then finally, we need to be talking to our state and local law enforcement
associations,
local leaders, and really talking about and making a case for why we need rapid
DNA in
the booking station, why it's important to invest in this.
If you want more information on funding, please visit this website, policegr
antshelp.com
and also I've added Lisa Hirsch, her direct email address.
She would be glad to assist in helping with you explore funding opportunities.
All right.
And then finally, just to summarize, right?
We need to be looking at this as an opportunity to really improve our current
arrestee collection,
really make it part of the normal booking process.
We need to tap into those booking station processes that already exist.
Use your live skin and rapid DNA vendors' IT resources.
They have many resources and they've already been working on how to make these
files and
communications happen much more seamlessly.
And then like I said, we really have an opportunity here to improve our arrest
ee collections and
really use it as an opportunity to prevent missed DNA collections and dupl
ications.
All right.
And then finally, thank you for taking this time to listen about rapid DNA,
booking station,
implementation.
Here's my email address.
Feel free to reach out to me for any assistance you might need.
Hi, my name is Chris Carney and I'm the supervisor of the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement's
DNA investigative support database.
I'm generally much more relaxed going to these, given these live where I can
pace back and
forth around podiums.
I bear with me for the next 20 minutes or so while I share some of the key
points that
we've learned in working with rapid DNA at booking.
So I'll be hitting the following items today, which I think are the most
important aspects
of implementing DNA into the booking environment.
This includes high-level tech recap, elements of the authority to operate and
the benefits
of the technology.
FTL is required to maintain a vendor agnostic position.
However, we actively participate in advancing the science and technology
involved in forensic
science.
So due to this, names of commercial manufacturers are provided for
identification purposes only
and inclusion does not imply endorsement of the manufacturer or its products or
services
by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
official
position or policy or position of FTL.
So in a nutshell, you need the following four technological essentials to
incorporate rapid
DNA into a booking environment.
I was very lucky in that Florida began to work on an integrated criminal
history system
in the early 2000s and began to track towards phasing and felony arrest e-leg
islation around
2007.
So we had the framework of some of these elements, namely bullet two, a system
in place to identify
qualifying offenders at the time this wild is collected prior to any of the
mind-boggling
and rapid DNA.
Our system isn't totally what we have envisioned.
It could be expanded fund, but we've established through more recent rapid DNA
testing that
it gets the job done for implementing rapid DNA booking for arrestees and
satisfies both
elements of the system that are required.
So if you're interested in establishing rapid DNA booking, what should you
focus on?
Well, as most of you are aware, rapid DNA testing has been ongoing for quite
some time now,
and systems have been or are in the process of being approved for booking.
So bullet one is solved.
Additionally, there are several vendors such as Cross Match, DataWorks Plus,
and Idemium,
who are subject matter experts in 10-print and biometric identification systems
In other words, solving bullet two.
All you need to do is identify your needs, your requirements, put them into an
invitation
to negotiate, bid specs, what do you have to do in your agency, and let the
vendors determine
how to solve it.
Finally, let the rapid DNA vendors and the biometric records vendors determine
how to
integrate their systems.
I know that I had a different integration and vision, but when it came down to
it, the
vendor-collaborated approach provided a much better solution with less moving
parts.
So what should you focus on?
Focus on this.
Ultimately, I knew that we needed to establish the communications piece before
we wasted
both our time and the vendors' time in tying their systems into the booking
environment.
The biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is establishing these communications between
the booking facility
and code, is because if you don't have that in place, you can't plan the game.
But once you have that solved, the rest is cate.
Again, did I do this on my own?
Heck no.
I leaned on some in-house subject matter experts, namely, FTLE's networking
group, who has
over sight of the connectivity to booking facilities in the state.
In that aspect, I'm pretty lucky.
I know some other agencies and states work a little bit differently.
Our guys had it solved within a week and probably less than a half a day of
actual putting
thought and switching whether they had to switch around because they were awk.
This is now established.
We have this network connectivity established for all booking locations within
the state.
Now, I'm going to shift focus to the authority to operate.
This consists of 10 key elements and is the final piece of the puzzle once the
technology
has been established.
Technology, I'm talking about those four tech pieces we just recaped on.
It's a hefty bit of documentation, but it's required because these booking
stations are
essentially going to be extensions of the DNA database and laboratory.
And using the DNA database and laboratory, we'll have ownership of the data
that's being
provided from these booking agencies.
Of course, the first prerequisite is that you have an arrestee collection
requirements
and that you can legally store state identification numbers at your estus level
of COS.
But in other words, legal issues.
If you can do these, if you have the authority for number one and two, then you
can sign
MOUs between all the agencies involved and you'll need to establish a training
program
for the booking agency personnel.
There are actually five elements of the ATO on this page, but I combined MOUs
since everyone
in their grandma has to sign one.
So the next five elements are the procedural and/or policy requirements to
establish for
the ATO.
The details of a lot of these will actually be established in tandem with your
tech requirements.
So it appears daunting, but it's not that bad.
So the first are statewide policies, which are summarized.
They'll be summarized on the next three slides.
Again, it seems like a lot, but in reality, it isn't unbearable.
Do you have an arrestee statute that allows for collection at booking?
When you put a DNA indicator into a computerized criminal history, if you don't
have either
of these, then it's a futile effort.
So talk with your legislators.
COS specimen ID requirements.
Unless you insist on populating the spec ID with something special other than
this WAV ID
provided by the rapid DNA vendors, then this is easy.
Remember, the state identification number is what's tying the DNA data or the
DNA profile
back to the identity of the individual who provided that sample.
And the specimen ID is what ties the individual back to the sample that was
running the rapid
DNA instrument.
So the spec ID, it's not the end-all sale.
It's just kind of an identification of the specimen.
When you have these encoders, your CID will be in the background tied with that
specimen
ID.
So the CID is the really thing.
That's what you're really making sure that the proper CID is tied to the DNA
sample.
Swab's collect one for the instrument and one regular swab, current swab,
whatever you
do right now to be sent into your lab for maintenance.
That's what our plan is.
It's your policy to create so you can do what you want.
To continue swab instrument failures, I would say lean on the vendor, but your
rapid DNA
booking procedures and training program need to reflect on how these will be
handled.
Authorized use, yeah, only four restee samples.
No swab and a gentle contraband here, please.
Slide operators, again, lean on the vendors for supplying training materials
that meet
your needs for the operators for their specific rapid DNA systems.
I mean, you've got a training test and certified before they're able to go
online.
Submission, that's through the CRE app.
You've already established that through our networking paths that I discussed
earlier.
Forensic unknown disk enrollment.
That has an interesting aspect.
Maybe you could use a pre-log type system.
I know we have beast as our limb system and there's a pre-log where they can
check the
evidence in prior to bringing it in for submission.
You could use the pre-log to collect the required contact info on the front end
and require
for DNA analysis request.
Maybe require a lay-age on with the law enforcement agency that can be
contacted 24/7/365.
This one needs a little bit of discussion to see how we want to handle it with
an R agency
and I'm sure every other agency is going to be the same.
Disk follow-up.
Yeah, if you have a hit with the disk profile, you still need to reach out and
see if they're
aware of the disk hit.
Sometimes things get missed.
Message flow, again, this would be established when you put the connectivity to
the booking
agency in place.
Finally these elements will be wrapped up in your statewide policies.
So again, these should all have been established.
Let's see, let's look at them.
The first one, vendor, second one, vendor, third one, vendors.
Networking is on you, but we're a network team.
Don't forget to send some love to your network team.
This one might be tricky according to how many agencies latch on to the
technology.
For example, Florida, we have 67 counties, if all 67 counties in Florida
adopted this,
then we would probably need more personnel within our section to establish
these audits.
If it's adopted in a more regional approach, so it's some of the larger
agencies, for example,
Pensacola, let's say let's just count Fduley's regions, Pensacola, Tallahassee,
Jackson,
Bill, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, of course you would have some other local
agencies, Miami
Day, Broward, Palm Beach that might latch on to it.
That's a little more manageable.
So let's look at the benefits of rapid DNA technology at booking.
This is a poster and I know you probably can't see it well, but it's a poster
from
a study of arrestees versus convicted offender collections that was performed
about three
years after we began phasing in felony arrests.
It was performed by our Fduley Statistical Analysis Center.
The study is titled "Linking CHR, Criminal History Records and DNA Data, Exam
ining the
Effects of this Biometric Identifier on the Administration of Criminal Justice
."
So what it's looking at is the effects of the DNA biometric on criminal justice
and
what happened.
In essence, the study found that DNA could be taken at arrest approximately 236
days prior
to an individual having a collectible conviction.
And we were collecting all felony convictions at and during the study.
We were phasing in on arrestees so we had a smaller arrestee population.
It would be neat to see us go back and reevaluate this study provided funding
was available
for it and they were swamped with work.
So, hits to an arrestee occurred 214 days prior to the arrestee having a
collectible
conviction.
In other words, arrestee collections are really a proactive approach to solving
or stopping
criminal acts.
The bottom line is that arrestee collections mean earlier investigative leads.
But if arrestee collections work out well then why invest in this new rapid DNA
technology
at Bookie?
Well, because it works and it works well.
Out of a very limited sample set during the FBI pilot, we had four samples that
hit two
other forensic specimens.
These were all conviction matches and granted they were all conviction matches
but it showed
that the system worked and it was kind of exciting.
You can see we had one arrestee sample that hit two out of state forensic
specimens.
They were all related to one another but we were getting an out of state hit
during
a very small pilot.
And during more recent testing we had three more matches identified.
And remember this is a small county in the Panhandle of Florida.
It's not a major metropolis.
So for our matches during this current testing, we weren't able to actually
search the booking
sample because of course we don't have an authority to operate.
We don't have an established system, you know, a system that's established for
booking
that we're testing right now.
But what we did was test our concordant samples that were entered, you know, as
through our
normal non-rapid process.
And these concordant samples which match back to the rapid samples that were
entered
booking, they did make matches to three sex assault cases.
Of course I'm not able to discuss them because they're probably still open but
just to summarize
them up.
One wasn't active case.
In another state, the offender information would have been obtainable five days
sooner
if we had been able to act on the rapid sample.
The second one, you know, it was a conviction match but it matched the friends
that come
known of the subject that was submitted with the case.
But that information would have been available twenty-eight days sooner than
when we got,
you know, our regular offender sample.
Finally, the third was, you know, a female suspect with an out of county
warrant for her
particular case that she was wanted on.
But we would have had that information available, you know, thirty-seven days
sooner.
And potentially even sooner than that, if the agency, the out of county agency
that had
picked her up had a rapid DNA system in place, they would have known, you know,
at that time.
So time consideration is a major item to think about.
The turnaround time for a non-rapid DNA arrest collection to make it in the
code is at best
and will be approximately thirty days on average.
So to summarize what we kind of see, you'll have seven days for an agency to
collect and
then for us to receive an arrestee sample.
They don't collect them and send them right away.
They might capture all of them that they've collected for a week and then send
them in.
So at best seven days.
Okay, once we get the samples, we have to accession them and get them into the
system.
So that's on average seven days.
You know, we've generally got seven days of samples that we're working through.
So it's at least seven days.
If it came in right away and it's a rush, of course, these are different
circumstances.
But you've got fourteen days to it right there.
Our average turnaround to get the sample from when it's available to be
processed and put
into code is at seven days.
The once it's encoded, you know, we do nightly searches and this does nightly
searches so
it could return a match at that, you know, during that night.
And then identification, that's kind of hard to say.
It's a little bit different.
Doing nightly searches, we've gotten a little bit quicker, probably,
identifying hits.
But you still, you have to go pull your case file.
You're going to have to contact the investigating an agency.
So three days, it might be a little bit longer.
Seven days for us to, you know, run a normal hit confirmation, internal hit
confirmation
process and release a letter back to the Elder's Lab.
Three days to release a report to the investigating agency.
And this is these, the last four bullets or the last three bullets are
potentially after
you've identified a hit.
So you're looking at, you know, at least fourteen days right here.
I know that every lab's a little bit different.
Three days, if you were booking it to release a report, you know, have it admin
, administrator
reviewed and, you know, get it to the investigating agency.
And then finally, you know, the investigating agency getting a warrant, I have
no clue on
that one.
So what we've kind of learned in summary, if you're trying to get this bird off
the
ground, identifying trust in your subject matter experts early.
You know, you can find them in-house, you can find them through your vendors
and within
the law enforcement agency.
This is utmost importance.
You know, you're the subject matter expert in DNA analysis or whatever your
role is within
your agency and you're going to have to use these other SMEs to collaborate
with.
Have patience in lean on others.
You know, rapid has been a long time in the making.
So have patience.
It's not new, but it is new.
And don't forget to lean on the others who have, you know, collaborated or
worked on getting
wrapped off the ground.
You're not trying to recreate the wheel here.
And don't forget that the benefits outweigh the heavy lifts you'll encounter.
I mean, the juice is worth the squeeze.
Once you're able to implement a rapid DNA of booking, your code is useful to
occur much
sooner.
You'll alleviate public and officer safety concerns.
You know, your officers are not having to try to track down the perpetrator if
they're
sitting in jail.
And it should provide faster turnaround in the criminal justice administration
field.
That's the, you know, really good benefits and the tips I've learned through
working
with this.
I hope it helps you.
And thank you for your patience and time.
And if you have any questions, you can contact me at the following phone number
email.
Thank you again.
Thanks, Joni and Chris for that great information and insight.
While we get ready for the Q&A in just a few moments, let's move on to a few
polling questions.
Our first polling question is, Wendy, thank your agency or jurisdiction will
start using
rapid DNA in a booking station.
This year, next year, in three to five years, in six plus years or never.
Our next question, if your agency considering using rapid DNA for any of the
following applications,
investigative leads, disaster victim ID, code is hit confirmations, reference
sample processing,
or other.
Last question, would you like to receive more information on today's webinar
topic?
All right.
Well, with our poll done it now, we are going to jump to Captain Carol very
briefly before
we do the Q&A.
Captain Carol is going to share his experience with rapid DNA from the law
enforcement perspective.
Captain Carol, you're up now.
Good morning.
My name is Captain Craig Carol.
I'm with Leon County Sheriff's Office here in Tallahassee.
I've been in corrections for about 25 years and we've had the pleasure over the
past probably
year and after two years to beta test and to run two of these machines and work
with
Chris Carney in this process.
I've got a point of view from an actual agency that went through this process
and feet on
the ground has kind of approached it.
All right.
Thank you.
So, audience, why don't we get into our Q&A now?
So, first question, Chris, Captain Carol, I think this will be for you.
Chris, let's get you into the fold right now.
How much training is needed to operate a rapid DNA instrument in a booking
station?
So, the training isn't as intensive as you would have to train someone to work
in a lab,
of course.
What you have to train on is basically the operation of the machine and then
what to
do in the instance of troubleshooting the machine if something happens and then
basically
who to contact.
So, how we operated it was that the lieutenants and the booking sergeants were
the machine
operators and the lieutenants were like the lead operators when we did testing
with Leon
County.
It seemed to work out very well and then we used to train the trainer method
following
that.
The sergeants could pass the training down onto the booking officers.
Gotcha.
Okay, Captain Carol, any thoughts on training from your perspective?
Yeah, the training was pretty simple and the vendor would come on the site and
probably
spend 30 or 45 minutes with different lieutenants and sergeants to create our
groups and then
those did the train, the trainer as far as training some more on shift.
We didn't have to worry about training anybody to actually take samples because
that is something
that we already did prior to this.
We just adapted into, we took two samples.
One for the way that we have always done it and sent it in and then the new
sample to
run through the machine so that part didn't really change but just kind of
doubled it
up a little bit there.
But as far as the operation of the actual machine itself it's all pretty
straightforward.
It's not super technical.
All of our officers had no problems adapting to this process.
That's great to hear.
All right, Joni, let's bring you in here.
Here's a question for you.
What can I expect when an arrestee DNA matches a crime scene sample in disk?
The concept is that the software will use the inlet system.
So it's basically the software, the process that law enforcement currently uses
for its
wants and warrants process already.
So that system is already monitored 24/7 by law enforcement.
What should happen in those systems is that the agency, the booking agency
system should
be notified and then also the law enforcement agency that had submitted the
evidence profile
should also be notified.
And those should be monitored and have specific contact in them so that they
will be notified
of those that this individual has hit, let's say to this rate.
So that should happen pretty quickly through that monitored system.
Okay, absolutely.
Kevin, you have any thoughts on that?
No, I agree with what she said.
Okay.
Great.
All right, Chris.
Another one for you.
What is the average time arrestee DNA will be searched against non-disc enabled
crime scene
samples?
So that's something that you can set up within your own state.
In Florida, we search, we run nightly searches and also the national DNA index
system, they
run nightly searches.
So as soon as arrestee is into the system, it will search the state level cod
ers and the
national level coders that night as long as you're performing searching and
uploading
schedules on a routine daily basis.
Oh, that's great.
That's quick.
Now when you're using the rapid head machine, is machine able to accept consum
ables like
swabs, et cetera, by other companies besides thermophistic scientific?
Now, I imagine it could.
We did not do that.
In our procedures, we used the swabs that coincide with the machine.
Okay.
So, Joni, let's say I'm responsible for a booking station and I would like to
establish rapid
DNA.
Who should I reach out to first?
What are my steps here?
So I would think if you're your first step in that process would be to reach
out to maybe
you take all of your arrestees to a local jail that is run by a sheriff's
office, so
you're perished jail.
So your first step in thinking the process would be to contact them.
Look at what vendors they use for their live scan instrument.
Next, you need to be in contact with your state CODIS laboratory.
It really needs to be a partnership between that booking station and the state
CODIS laboratory
to begin that process.
And then you'll begin by reaching out to rapid DNA vendors and the live scan
vendors.
So, actually, this type of project is really a partnership kind of project.
So that's where I would start.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Okay.
And just to follow up with the previous question, before Joni's, the rapid hit
ID system does
work with many different types of swabs.
So you do have a flexibility there.
All right, Joni, another one for you quickly before we move on to a few for
Chris.
Besides the REST testing, can the rapid DNA instrument be used for other kinds
of testing?
Yes.
So there are labs and law enforcement agencies currently looking at using this
for investigative
leads.
The touch don't end a little bit also using it to identify disaster victim.
So in the identification of those victims.
So CODIS hit confirmation.
So those are some different areas that this technology could also be used.
Okay.
Now, Chris, can you describe the booking station audit process?
So the audit process, it's not something that we have gotten into detail with
in Florida.
We're going to have to work that out for our authority to operate.
It will have to cover all of the standards for rapid DNA of booking.
And as long as you're fulfilling, you know, the standards of that audit, then
you might
be able to do it a few different ways.
It's just something that we're going to have to put together and submit for
approval and
something that we're comfortable with.
I can talk about in my discussion, Florida has 67 counties in it.
And that's when we're going to have to figure out if every single county
implements something
like this, it's going to be a stretch for our small statewide initiative
section to handle.
If it's regional, it might be a lot easier.
You might have to work with the SINGI side who SINGI's regularly does all of
the criminal
history systems or FCIC terminals around the state.
So we might have to ask them instead of trying to reinvent the wheel ourselves.
Of course.
That makes sense.
And joining anything so after?
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's important to also remember, you know, if you take
Louisiana, right, there's
about 140 booking stations, but, you know, especially in the early stages of
this, I
can't imagine that you would, you know, have the resources to implement this in
140 booking
stations.
But maybe you could look at your very large booking stations, maybe six or
seven in a
state, and be able to cover a good portion of your recipe samples that are
being collected
that then makes that audit more manageable.
We're not talking about auditing 140 booking stations in a state.
Maybe we're talking about auditing six booking stations in a state.
I'm just my thoughts on that.
Absolutely.
Thank you for that.
Are, Chris, how are you receiving the UDN message for a hit?
Are you getting any notifications besides the match message in CODIS?
So, when a hit to a disk profile occurs, then you receive your regular CODIS
match message,
and a UDN would go through the input system to the booking agency as well as
the investigating
agency.
And that's set up through the metadata that's associated with the arrestee
specimen enrollment
and the forensic unknown that you would add metadata in for the forensic
unknown.
So, that's set up through the back end in CODIS.
CODIS has a system that if you look in the options of it, it's in place to
allow these
communications to occur.
And it basically occurs from your state information re-eros through the CJIS
channels.
So, we don't see a UDN, but the agencies through their input system would see
the UDNs.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Thanks.
You know, Chris, in your presentation, you kind of briefly mentioned some
challenges
with IT, you know, communication.
Can you talk about that a little bit more, you know, specifically what some of
those challenges
were, whether it was, you know, setting it up between the booking station and C
ODIS?
What was happening there?
So, in the initial setup, we did have some challenges, and it was basically
sitting down
with the network guys and having them sit down with the FBI's, you know, rapid
DNA personnel
and letting them talk it out and figure out what needed to be done.
Everybody's got a vision of how things can work, but you can, you know, you can
get from
point A to, you know, get from A to Z by, you know, going a different route a
lot of
times.
And so, our networking group figured out what we needed to do to get it back to
, you know,
to the CODIS side.
And so, when they sat down and figured that one out, you know, we started
testing, and
it didn't go as planned.
You know, I was expecting to run out there and, you know, plop up, you know,
test CMF,
rapid CMF into the CODIS enrollment app and had it fired right away.
So, you know, after about 23 tries and doing some tracing and figuring out what
was going
on, we were able to get it operational.
You know, the next day, the network guys figured out exactly what was happening
and
to go reset a couple of key elements.
And it was, I would say relatively painless for us, but like I said, and then
if you've
got good subject matter experts that you can identify on how to get it from,
from here
to there, that's who you need to talk with.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Yeah, nothing.
I'm not going to show that a little bit too, you know, in Louisiana.
So, before rapid, you know, was really even thought of or putting that,
Louisiana has
been packaging up a file.
We laid it to that arrest DNA sample and sending that over to the state CODIS
laboratory.
And it was using, it's a direct state network.
So I know that IT, you know, subject matter experts in that state have
successfully made
that leak from those booking stations to the CODIS laboratory.
Okay.
Thank you, Johnny.
And we have another one for you here as we're running out of time, but here's
our last
one.
So, we have a couple of other, um, bookings stations are submitting offenders
for CODIS
today.
You have some idea?
So, are submitting rapid DNA?
Um, so no one is that.
Sorry, go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, so if we're just submitting offenders for CODIS today, like I
said, in Louisiana
alone, there's 140 booking stations, but for rapid DNA, right, as far as I'm
aware, no
one has received authority to operate to actually go live with that process.
We do anticipate that happening this year in 2021.
Okay.
Great.
Chris, anything to add there?
No, I think Johnny's right on that.
Unless something changed within the last couple of days, you know, the pallet
states were all,
we're all kind of in the same boat right now on trying to figure out the
elements of
the authority to operate.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Well, we'll look forward then to seeing that happen sometime this year in the
next coming
month.
All right, audience, that about wrapped up all the time we have for today in 24
hours
or less, this webinar will be available on demand if you'd like to watch it
again or
share it with your friends and colleagues.
Additionally, you will receive an email with information on how to obtain CE
credit documentation
for your participation today.
And, Johnny, Chris, Captain Carol, we thank you so much for all the information
you gave
up.
The third webinar in this 2021 Future Trends and Forensic DNA Technology web
inar series
will be held June 17th at 8 a.m. Pacific, 11 a.m. Eastern.
We will soon be able to register for that webinar on the forensic website, www.
ferensicmag.com.
And there you can also view the other webinars in this series in the previous
one on demand.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us.
And we hope you have a wonderful day.