The Power of Rapid DNA Results
Since the launch of its rapid DNA program in 2014, the Orange County District Attorney’s office in California has been rapidly solving cases and reducing crime in their community. The OCDA’s office has used rapid DNA technology from Thermo Fisher Scientific to quickly identify victims and solve over 100 crimes--everything from commercial burglaries and auto theft to murders. In this webinar, OCDA Forensic Scientist Anna Dadhania will explain how the program works, including case examples and best practices for successful partnerships with local law enforcement and the crime lab to solve crimes faster. You will learn about: --Successful implementation of a Rapid DNA Program --Utilizing Rapid DNA technology to enhance your ability to solve cases and fight crime faster --Partnering with Law Enforcement to effectively reduce crime in your community
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Hello and welcome to the power of rapid DNA results brought to you by forensic
and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. This is the second webinar in the
sixth
part future trends in forensic DNA technology webinar 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. Following 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 just a
moment to cover a few logistics. At the end of the first presentation 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 today's webinar as well as
more information about our speakers. If you have a technical question during
today's event click on me test your connection button on the bottom of your
screen. From there you can access additional webinar support. We also
invite you to use the social media widgets beneath the webinar to share
with your friends and colleagues. Today you will be hearing from Anna Dehania
a forensic scientist in the Orange County District Attorney's Office. In this
role she is an administrator for Orange County's DNA database the largest
consensual local DNA database in the United States. In this webinar Anna will
explain how the rapid DNA program works including case examples and best
practices for successful partnerships with local law enforcement and the crime
lab. Anna is a vital part of her agency's rapid DNA program as she is involved
in
validation, troubleshooting and training among other duties. We will have a
short
Q&A after Anna's presentation so please do submit any questions you may have
for
her. To close out the webinar Amy Jugwuna owner of MindGen will share
techniques to evoke relaxation intense moments. Amy teaches sustainable
solutions to embody resilience at work and at home. She founded MindGen after
managing a crime laboratory and seeing how stress and trauma affected the
quality of work and life for herself and her colleagues. We thank you for
attending the second session in the six part Future Trends in Forensic DNA
Technology webinar series. After the webinar please be sure to check your email
for more information on CE Credit documentation. We look forward to seeing
you on July 16th for the part three finding the right tools for the job CE
tools that improve efficiency and save time. Now without further ado I'm going
to
hand it off to Anna to get us started. Thank you Michelle for your introduction
I'm excited to be talking about the rapid DNA program here at the Orange
County District Attorney's Office. In addition to the program I'll be talking
about some of our best practices, the lessons we've learned over the years and
the impact we have seen. Orange County is located in beautiful Southern
California
it's known for its beautiful beaches, beautiful shoreline and for Disneyland.
We're nestled right in between LA County and San Diego County and we have
around
three million residents making it the sixth most populous county in the United
States. It has over 35 law enforcement agencies where all the
prosecution is done by the Orange County District Attorney's Office. We also
have
a county crime lab, the Orange County Crime Lab, that does all the forensics
including our DNA testing. Rapid DNA however is done at the Orange County
District Attorney's Office. We have the Science and Technology Unit which
consists
of attorneys, paralegals, investigative assistants, investigators and forensic
scientists such as myself. In addition to the rapid DNA program we have a DNA
database collection program. There we have the consensual collection of DNA
from individuals as part of a negotiated court disposition. So it's done in
front
of a judge with attorneys present where an individual can voluntarily give
their
DNA as part of their court case. And we collect this DNA at each of our five
county court houses. This DNA is processed and put into our local OCD
DNA database. We have around 195,000 profiles from individuals in our database
which were collected as part of our collection program. We also have almost
13,000 crime scene profiles that were developed by the Orange County Crime
Lab and sent to the DA's office to be a search against our local DNA database.
We run this database weekly. This is apart from Rapid DNA. We get all of the
crime scene profiles that were also uploaded to CODIS. We'll get those from
the Orange County Crime Lab and search against our database to see if we can
provide them any hits. Now the Orange County Rapid DNA program is available to
all Orange County law enforcement at no charge to them. It is funded by
Proposition 69 which funds DNA related programs. We started with the pilot
program back in 2014 and they went county-wide in 2015. Rapid DNA has a
ton of potential which we have seen here in Orange County. It can help develop
investigative leads and can also establish probable cause to obtain a
search warrant or an arrest warrant. This can be done one of two ways. This is
where our OCD DNA database comes into play. We can test a crime scene sample on
the Rapid DNA instrument and then search it against our OCD database and
hopefully we can get a hit and provide this information to law enforcement. We
can also do a quick exclusion or inclusion by testing a suspect buckle
standard which we can compare to an already existing DNA profile. That could
be done by the crime lab. They already have this profile or we could also have
run that on the Rapid DNA instrument. Here we use the Rapid Hit 200
instrument. It was validated back in 2014 by forensic scientists including
myself using the SWIG DAM guidelines for validation. The instrument uses all
disposable one-time use cartridges and can run up to seven samples out once.
This
is including controls. Once the run has started it takes about two hours to
complete and get results. There's multiple cartridges. So cartridge A and
cartridge B have the polymer and the buffer and then the sample cartridges is
where we put the samples and it contains the PCR reagents and the
extraction reagents. So everything that's kind of done with extraction, PCR is
done within these cartridges. You can see there's different packets where there
's
liquids and it uses force and mechanics to move these liquids to do the
extraction and it moves to the bottom where PCR reagents are added and PCR
amplification is done at the very bottom up with this black plate. Once PCR is
over it is injected into the instrument where the capillary is housed and
there's run through the capillaries in the instrument. We have strict protocols
on samples that we collect and accept for a Rapid DNA program. The law
enforcement agencies themselves will collect the evidence and then bring them
over to Rapid DNA program here if it is eligible. First and foremost are most
important thing is that they're sufficient sample to collect two samples.
The crime lab is of the most priority so they have the priority for any sample.
So if there's only enough to collect one sample it should be going to the crime
lab. So we use the swab A and swab B techniques. So swab A is for the crime
lab and that's a priority and that will be used for court and for codus upload.
If there's any sample remaining then that could be submitted to the Rapid
DNA program and that will be used for our investigative lead purposes. We also
limit the type of samples that can be submitted. The Rapid DNA instrument needs
high quantity of DNA so we've limited it based off of our validation what we
see
that and produce good results. So that includes blood samples, vocal swabs,
saliva,
cigarette butt filter paper which we have the iktis cut in half same with gum
that will be cut in half so one half goes to the crime lab and one half will
come
to us. We will also run semen samples but only if it's neat semen so it cannot
be from a sexual assault kit. You can see on the screen here the ideal sample
size for a Rapid DNA blood sample is about the size of pencil or razor head.
So it doesn't need a lot of blood to get a good stain so there are a lot of
instances where there is a large stain of blood. So the first swab taken can be
the one for the crime lab and then the second one with what's remaining can be
sampled for our Rapid program. So samples that we will not run against in the
Rapid instrument so any faint blood stains that should go straight to the
crime lab and we won't cut the swabs either. Drinking containers straws touch
samples we can't really see or estimate well how much DNA is there so we would
rather have them get their best chances at the crime lab. In any samples where
mixture of DNA suspected we will not run so that includes any samples in a
sexual assault kit because the Rapid DNA instrument does not handle
mixtures as we would expect. So we only want single source samples. So we will
run this Rapid DNA instrument on both searsome violent crime and property
crime. So our OCDA supervising investigator handles and approves all
requests for Rapid DNA testing. He gets the facts of the case from the law
enforcement
agency, what type of samples they have and the probative nature of the samples.
We'll only run samples if they truly provide probative information for the
case. If it is a serious and violent crime we'll run the instrument immediately
whether it's during working hours or after hours it's available to local
enforcement at any time. In that case the OCDA supervising investigator will
review the facts of the case and see if it justifies immediate rapid DNA
testing and we'll make sure that everyone that's needed for testing is
available. If it's a non-serious and violent crime such as a property crime
we wait until we have a full run of samples so that's about five samples.
So we'll wait until we have a full run of samples from different agencies it
doesn't have to be the same agencies and we'll do this testing on a weekly
basis.
All the evidence is handled and tested by trained rapid operators and they're
actually non-scientists that run the instrument and they've been trained and
I'll discuss training a little bit later on how to handle our evidence. They
accept
the evidence they track it in our OCDA Rapid Case Tracking System and whenever
a run is done it also has a positive control which is just a known buckle
swab and a negative control which is just an empty well and that's run with
any run of evidence. Once the two hours is complete and there is data at the
end
of the run the profile data is downloaded by myself a forensic scientist for
review.
If the controls pass and the profile meets our quality criteria so you know
it has enough loci to work of search I'll search it against the OCDA data.
And when I search a crime scene sample I'll search in both against crime scenes
that are already in our database and against individuals in our data. So we
can get hits to both crime scene to crime scene and individual to individual.
Once the run is complete the tested evidence is actually removed from the
cartridges and dried in a secure locker space and once that is complete it'll
be returned to our the police departments we don't keep any of this
evidence. Now say we have a hit that's when the ball really starts rolling we
have an immediate rapid DNA notification that goes out to a law enforcement
agency and follow-up investigation is expedited so they can interview witnesses
conduct photo lineups search for additional evidence, author search warrants in
rapid fashion just like the rapid DNA testing was. It's important that they
provide all the reports to our prosecutors as soon as possible because
since it is rapid we want to get stuff done as quick as possible and get the
case file as soon as possible. We also have to coordinate with the Orange
County crime law with any of our testing. Our supervising investigator
notifies the crime law of any evidence run of a rapid DNA instrument so they
know that it's also been run here. They test their primary piece of evidence so
those results can be uploaded to codus and can be used as evidence for court.
Also if we do have a hit our OCD a prosecutor will coordinate expedited
testing of the crime scene evidence and if there's a confirmation reference
swab if they're going to file the case because once the case is filed they have
10 court days from arrest to take the case of preliminary hearing. So in normal
circumstances with the codus hit for example the hit will come and then they
will make the arrest. However with rapid DNA we'll get a rapid DNA hit so they
have not tested the piece of evidence at the crime lab yet so if there is a hit
and they need to bring this evidence to court in 10 days the crime lab will
have
to expedited so it does require us to have constant communication with our
crime lab. Some of the best practices that I've learned over the years with
this rapid DNA program it's of utmost importance at the crime law. It's
priority for evidence. We do not want to compromise any evidence that will be
used for court so it's very important to use the swab A and swab B technique.
If there's not enough evidence for a split send it to the crime lab for testing.
If
it's if it's a serious and violent crime just you need to ask for expedited
testing but you don't want to compromise the evidence to run it in rapid and
not
have a piece of evidence for the crime lab to test. In addition we're not
always
going to get a full profile on the rapid DNA instrument so traditional crime
law testing can still generate a profile even if the rapid DNA instrument does
not because that type of testing has greater sensitivity and they have more
methods of testing because they have more instrumentation to their for their
use. Also a big thing is that rapid DNA evidence is not currently eligible for
coders so you still want this profile uploaded to coders through your coders
lab and is not used for court in our county. In addition a rapid hit may
establish probable cause if the evidence is prohibited so really really
important that this rapid DNA tested is coordinated with your prosecutors.
Since
here our rapid DNA program is done at the Orange County DA's office it's easy
because we have prosecutors here that are assigned in the science or
technology unit to file the case. However if you have a rapid DNA program say
at
your crime lab or at a local law enforcement agencies it's really
important that you coordinate and talk with your prosecutors so that when you
do get a hit they can be in the know and can file the case right away. Here we
have all rapid hits assigned to the science of technology units so a
specified deputy a handles the filing of every case and they also assist our
law enforcement right writing any sort warrants or arrest warrants that they
may need. These warrants are based on the rapid training that they receive that
the law enforcement receives and it focuses on the reliability of the rapid
DNA test results because rapid DNA is new while DNA testing and PCR is not new
rapid DNA is new so judges may not have seen this yet it may not know what they
're
looking at to see that this establishes probable cause. So the search warrant
focuses on that. It's also very important that for discovery purposes and there
is
a program in place to ensure that rapid DNA discovery is provided under any
scenarios when the sample is tested under the rapid DNA program so whether
there's no profile generated there wasn't a hit or there was a hit if a sample
from
that case is run in the rapid DNA instrument we will provide discovery and
this includes you know pictures reports that are generated by our tracking
system
the data files exported by the rapid DNA instrument and electrophirograms is
part of the discovery. We also maintain chain of custody here at the Orange
County DA's office we store all of our evidence in secure lockers and it's
immediately logged into our own evidence tracking system and this
tracking system you know it gives a barcode to each item of evidence it tracks
the movement of evidence from being locked in the evidence locker to be run
on the instrument and then being packed up again and return to the agencies at
the end when a rapid sample is returned to the agency we also generate a
release form that is given to the law enforcement agency to include in their
police report and also will be included in our discovery. We document
everything we do if there's a hit we'll provide a hit letter to the agency it
includes description of any samples that were tested and searched in our
database if there's a hit to an individual the name and the photo of the
individual be included in the hit letter if there's a hit to a crime scene then
to another crime scene then the description of that crime scene
evidence will also be included in the hit letter. We also make sure to document
if we do not have a hit so that also includes the type of samples that were
tested description and the results so why was there no hit was there no profile
was there a partial profile that we couldn't search against database or we
got a profile that we searched against the database but there was no hit in our
database so we document everything and we give this documentation to the
agencies that are running their samples with the RapidDNA program. We also have
a robust set of protocols that were in place before we even launched our rapid
DNA program because it's really we found it's really important to have a
structure before starting the program so everything is done with some thought
and foresight. The program protocols were developed including our legal teams
our
lawyers law enforcement investigators and the forensic scientists. Some of the
things that includes this criteria for sample acceptance how to collect
samples procedures for notification reports training and forms that we may
use. So we also I mentioned we have trained rapid operators that are non
scientists and we have a specialized training program for them before they
can ever run samples against our rapid DNA instrument. So it's a formalized
training program and it was modeled after any a normal crime lab training so
there's required readings there's observations and supervised training and
to finally get signed off on using or operating the rapid DNA instrument they
will take a mock samples competency test in addition to our written exam and
once
they've completed all this then they will be available to run our rapid DNA
instrument and in our office we have both investigators and investigative
assistants running our instrument and then we have forensic scientists that
review the data so I will review the data and will analyze it and search it
against our database and then there's also separate training program
specifically
for scientists. As part of the training program we also get proficially tested
twice a year and we do the proficiencies through the CTS proficially testing.
We also train all of our law enforcement we go out to the agencies to provide
training for proper evidence collection for how to submit to our program what
can be submitted what they should expect from our program so we go out
periodically to different agencies to provide this training so that not only
do they remember how to collect and what they can collect but it also get
reminds them that hey this rapid DNA program is available for their use and
can provide them important leads in many cases. In our training we'll train
detectives officers and also their CSI and right now there's over 700 trained
law enforcement personnel from over 30 county agencies over the years we've
trained. So our rapid DNA program started in 2014 and went county wide in 2015
and
we have learned many lessons through that whole whole time. It was not smooth
sailing from the beginning so there's a lot of lessons that have been learned
and I think would be helpful for anybody else that's starting a rapid DNA
program.
It's very important to have buy-in from all parties for success that includes
local law enforcement, local prime lab and the prosecutor's office. You can't
have
just one party running the rapid DNA program without buy-in from the
others. As a prosecutor's office here we needed to have buy-in from the local
law enforcement because we're going to be running their samples and we're
providing investigating leads to the local law enforcement. We also needed to
make sure that the crime labs on board because the evidence that they test will
be used in our court cases so we got to make sure that they have a stake in
this
so they will coordinate the expedited testing for us when we have a rapid DNA
hit. With the rapid DNA program we also saw the power of the local DNA database
As long as rapid DNA profiles from crime scene evidence is not allowed to be
searching quotas, a rapid DNA program will truly be powerful with a local
DNA database attached to it. I'll be going to some of our statistics a little
bit
later but about 40% of our rapid profiles that can be searched so any time that
we
have a searchable profile they result in a hit in the OCD and AD base. So with
the
database we get the hit and we can start the hit process and the notification
process and immediately notify hopefully within a few hours to law
enforcement agency this hit that they've gotten. If it's a serious or violent
crime
we'd be running it right away so they would get the hit hours after the crime
and we've also noticed that the number of cases where we have a suspect
comparison at the time of rapid DNA testing of the crime scene sample it's
very limited. Most of the samples that we get law enforcement agencies are
asking
for us to search against our database. So without our database the rapid DNA
program would not be the success it is today. Our local DNA database is modeled
by using the court system so the consensual collection of DNA at the
courthouse but that's not the only way that it can be done. You know the lab
the lab owns their profile data so you can use any DNA database software and
upload your data there and can harness that that DNA data information as a
local DNA database. So a lot of people when they ask about our program they
they find a daunting that we already have a DNA database program. So we've had
this program since 2007 so this was prior to rapid DNA so rapid DNA was a
perfect fit for us. So a lot of people when they're starting a rapid DNA
program
and also look at starting a database at the same time they could find them this
daunting especially if they're going to use the model that we do. However it's
not the only way and you can use the power of your crime lab and the
information that they have to develop a DNA database.
We've also seen that forensic scientists are an integral part of the program.
You
cannot leave them out whether they're employed and you know like here at the
DA's office or forensic scientists at the crime lab working in partnership with
a law enforcement agency it's very important to have forensic scientists. For
one there is more interpretable data if it's reviewed by a forensic scientist.
When a result is developed on the rapid DNA instrument you know the
interface just shows a check mark a green check mark if it's good. However
sometimes it doesn't show this green check mark but it could be for something
that doesn't make a difference to the DNA profile. The system can flag for
pull-up for off-ladders for imbalance for artifacts such as spikes. So when you
really have a good profile there but the system flags it then if you don't have
a forensic scientist to help you won't be able to search that profile. In
addition
partial profiles so if you don't have a full global file or profile let's say
one locus is missing or a few loci are missing the rest of the data is still
usable so partial profiles can still be searched and if you don't have a
forensic scientist you wouldn't be able to search that data. So we see a lot
more
usable data by having forensic scientists review the data. Also with the
forensic scientists they're important for the validation of the instrument and
also training and providing guidance to the operators of the instrument.
Because we
have non-scientists operating the instruments really important to have
scientists overseeing the whole program. Also there's any problems with the
maintenance and troubleshooting of the instrument. Forensic scientists can
detect
problems more quickly with the instrument and communicate with the
engineer to fix any issues whereas non-scientists would not have that
knowledge to help troubleshooting an instrument. It's also important to have
forensic scientists because they will maintain quality standards that are
expected in forensic science testing and that it's done with good standards and
good protocols in place. We've also seen that it's really important to keep
your
data and stats up to date. Because rapid DNA testing requires funding and there
are plenty of critics we've seen that you may have to justify your program or
you may get media requests for statistics. So by keeping the data on hand you
can
easily provide data to show how successful your rapid your rapid
DNA program has been and why the funding is important. I just use a simple
Excel spreadsheet and keep data about not only the rapid testing and the
results of the testing but also the case disposition. So was the case filed?
Was the
case completed? Was it a guilty? Was it a plea? Was it a jury trial? And the
days
that has taken from one step to the next. Because we've seen with rapid DNA
testing through keeping our data and stats that the time that it takes within
the court system is much less than if it was normal and done at the crime
lab. This is just an example as one of the statistics we keep is just sample
types. We've had over 640 samples tested since the start of the program and we
've
seen the majority of our evidence is actually just blood and about a third of
our evidence is cigarette butts. It's also important to start small especially
for
us in a county that's so large we didn't want to make it county wide right
away because we wanted to learn and test out the program before going county
wide
to so many people. So we tested it out with the pilot program about of about
six
agencies and there are a lot of lessons we learned through that we learned that
an evidence tracking system is necessary we did not have that in place before
the
pilot program. It's important that we're still learning today that we need to
encourage submission to the rapid DNA program. Training is essential. Training
is essential not only at the beginning but to continue training because people
get promoted they leave their positions at the law enforcement agencies so
there's
a constantly new people that need to be trained and also there's resistance to
change. Not everyone will be up to you know doing rapid DNA right away. They
see
that something different they don't they see that something not normal so you
might have to convince some people that hey the rapid DNA program will really
benefit you and encourage submission. Something else that we've learned we
weren't doing at the beginning is testing unidentified human remains. Our
coroner's office has many Jane and John Doe's that they receive and
unfortunately
when they send up DNA samples to the state for testing it can take a very long
time to get our results back and in addition to that those samples are only
searched against the missing persons indexing coded. So here at the DA's office
we can actually search any John Doe's against our DNA database to see if you
can get a match. They may or may not be victims of a crime they just might be
an identified body. In every case is different there could be different stage
stages of decomposition. We've had bodies that were left outside for a few
weeks before they were recovered. Burn remains, bodies in water, found at the
beach. So every case is different so it's very very important to keep a
dialogue
with the coroner in the medical examiner or your medical examiner to test the
best possible samples to obtain DNA. Success on obtaining DNA profile
varies depending on you know the state of decomposition, what you have, what is
left to test and there's been a lot of trial and error that we've seen when
testing unidentified human remains. Actually one of the if we can get it
males have been very successful for us on our rapid DNA instrument of obtaining
a profile and a lot of times when these bodies are decomposed sometimes nails
is what's left over. We may or may not have a family reference for a kinship
analysis. If there is, we'll do the kinship analysis right away. If there's no
family references and they have no idea who it is we will search it against our
database. It's also important that if possible if there are fingerprints that
the coroner runs life scan first so that if they can get an ID through life
scan
we don't have to use the resources of rapid DNA to identify them. Here at the
DA's office through the years it's been almost five years since we've gone
countywide so we've seen a huge impact and we've been keeping statistics and
case examples that show really how it's impacted our community here. So since
the beginning of when our program went countywide we've tested around over 400
cases and there could be one sample per case or multiple samples per case it
just depends on the case but around 77% of those cases we're able to obtain a
searchable profile that can be searched against our local DNA database. And of
those cases about 42% have a hit so that is a high percentage of cases that we
can get a hit and immediately notify law enforcement of the individual. Of the
cases with hits about 81% of those cases are able to be filed. Right now we
have about 4% that are pending filing and that could just be because it's a
recent hit and there might be some follow-up necessary but that's a very
high percentage of cases that are filed and of the cases that are filed 87%
we receive a conviction. About 12% or we have received a conviction. About 12%
are pending still and we have 1% that's an acquittal or dismissal so that was
actually just one case where that defended actually passed away before
trial so that ended up being a dismissal. So other adjudicated cases we have
with
the rapid DNA program a 99% conviction rate. Now if you compare this to
codus hits and local DNA database hits that are samples that are run at the
crime lab and sent over to codus or to the local database for searching we see
about 40% of those are filed. Our DDA's here at the Science Technology Unit
they
review all of our codus hits unless it's asexual assault, a homicide or gang
related. So any other DNA case any other codus hit or local database hit they
will
be reviewing and that's a stark contrast to the 80% we saw for our rapid DNA.
You
can see 34% are pending and that shows that there's a lot more what if a hit
is obtained much later from the time of the crime there's a lot more follow-up
that is necessary. So those are pending because you know the DDA might have
asked
the agency to perform some follow-up maybe interview witnesses get some
additional evidence before they can actually file the case. And here at the
DDA's office we see justice delayed is justice denied. So if we can get a rapid
DNA hit right away instead of waiting for weeks at the crime lab or even months
it's easier to locate an interview witnesses you have greater opportunities
collect the physical evidence and you know after a few months of the of a crime
and getting a hit months and months later witness recollection is not a
strong and even the interviewer interview with the defendant is not a strong
either
you're able to obtain a timely statement timely statements from
defendants or witnesses right after the crime and that are fresh and they can
remember all the details. Also for victims by having a resolution to the crime
early it provides reduced stress and reduced trauma for them and it also
increases our chances of recovering any stolen property and it just increases
the victim's sense of justice and security and so and same with society
it can also prevent further crime and stops crime squeeze and it also allows
for quick resolution in our criminal justice system so it allows law
enforcement agencies and the court system and the DDA's to focus on other
cases because these cases run through the system much more quickly and are
closed much more quickly. And also rapid DNA can provide good can provide
results
to exonerate or and it will be a quick result that you don't have to wait weeks
and months for that the correct person is identified through DNA testing right
away instead of waiting for months that could happen at the crime lab. I'm just
going to go over a few case examples with the time I have remaining. So here's
an
example from back in 2016 and this is a great case that shows different aspects
of rapid DNA and how it can be beneficial. So back in March 31st 2016
there's a residential burglary where over $5,000 worth of tools were stolen.
Just the next day they submitted cigarette butts that were left behind.
The resident said that they don't smoke it's not their cigarette butts so we
tested the cigarettes in the rapid DNA instrument and immediately got a hit to
our defendant. The local law enforcement agency actually knew this individual.
They knew him as through other crimes and he had a girlfriend and they went
over to the girlfriend's mother's house where the suspect was and arrested him
the very next day after the hit. So in addition to arresting the suspect the
next day they were able to recover all $5,000 worth of the tools that were
stolen. They were getting prepared to take pictures and sell these things on
Craigslist but we were able to recover it. A month later another cigarette butt
hit to his girlfriend and less than a month and a half after the crime the
suspects pled guilty. So that was a very quick resolution to this case and
also important to note that the suspects DNA sample was collected on a
misdemeanor back in 2015 of carrying a load of firearms. So our OCD database
consists of individuals that have been collected for lower level crimes
voluntarily as part of their case disposition. So you can see that he was
collected for a lower lower crime and we were able to solve a bigger crime
through this. And these showed the tools that were collected at the girlfriend
's
mother's house that they were getting prepared to list on a Craigslist and sell
Here is a case that was a brutal stabbing in the head and neck by gang
members and luckily the victim survived and he actually gave a name of someone
that who he thought was his assailant. Just one day after the data violation
they
brought in blood swabs from a blood trail at the scene and we ran it right
away and searched against our database and we teamed it obtained a hit. This
hit
was actually some somebody else that the victim did not name so we actually
were able to exonerate the person that the victim name and point them to the
correct individual. They found this defendant that same day arrested him and
he gave a full confession and also had multiple cuts on his fingers from the
stabbing. And just three days later after the data violation the case was filed
and the defendant was charged with attempted murder. So you can see how
quickly the rapid DNA testing can move a case and get a case resolution. So
this
case is actually still pending in the courts but you can see that just three
days later we're able to get a violent offender off the streets that stabs
someone else. Here's an example of a defendant who was committing multiple
vandalism and burglaries in Santa Ana with the same ML. So they didn't know
who it was but they knew that it was all related and then they had two crime
scenes where they had blood swabs. So blood swabs were submitted to the rapid
DNA program and we tested them and they both matched each other so it
confirmed that you know it's the same individual and we got a hit in our
database. Less than ten days later the case was filed for seven commercial
burglaries and vandalism and the suspect then pled guilty. The case was
filed in August and then by March the suspect pled guilty and was later
sentenced to three years in jail for his crimes. And the suspect's DNA sample
was
in our database for a misdemeanor possession of a meth pipe. Here is another
example of a case where the victim was actually robbed with a gun and the
defendant threatened to shoot him and it was after a actual consensual act in
the victim's car. So there was a condom collected at the scene. Seven days
later
after the data violation the law enforcement agency actually swabbed the
semen left behind in the condom and submitted it submitted it to our program
for rapid DNA testing. So that's an example of a case where we had neat
semen to test. So we tested the semen swab and it hit to our defendant that
same day. And two days later a search warrant was executed on the defendant's
home where they found all the stolen property and the defendant gave a full
confession. So two weeks later after the crime the case was filed and they
filed
it for robbery and criminal threats which are both strike offenses. So you can
see
just a week after a rapid DNA testing that they were able to file this case.
This is another example which is actually shows something that's scary
which was a there were two residential burglaries where the residents were
actually in their homes and asleep when this happened. The first one in
February
of this year 11 family members were asleep and there was a loss of $25,000.
And two days later the same defendant committed another residential burglary
where the residents were asleep. The very next day blood swab was submitted for
rapid DNA testing from the first burglary and the next day we were able to do
the
rapid testing and provide a hit to the defendant. The video before showed that
it was the same suspect so they were able to link the blood swab from the
first burglary to the second burglary through video. Eight days later after the
first residential burglary they were they arrested the defendant and the case
was filed the very next day. So you can see just nine days after the first
residential burglary the case was filed for two residential burglaries and our
suspect was in our database for a misdemeanor of a hit and run. And my final
example is to show how we can not only use rapid DNA against our database but
how you can use it as a direct comparison. Back in 2015 when our program was
first
started there was a homicide where there were blood smears found at a brick
wall
nearby. We got DNA from the blood swabs and we got a profile but there was no
hit on a database. Meanwhile detectives had learned some additional information
and had two potential suspects so they collected voluntary elimination
swabs for the for these suspects and brought these swabs over for rapid
DNA testing. And while they had these suspects in custody we were able to test
these rapid DNA buckle swabs and able to identify one of the two suspects was
matched to the blood found at the scene. So one person was able to be let go
and
then one person was arrested and through that the evidence was also recovered
from
the suspects belonging. The case was filed right away two days after the
rapid testing against the suspect and about a year later the defendant was
found guilty of second degree murder. So these are just some examples to show
you
case by case how rapid DNA can really move fast for the law enforcement agency
to clear their cases and move on to another case and how it can also move
fast through our criminal justice system so that we can provide quick
resolution to cases and not have them stretch out as long as some other cases
can. So if you guys have any questions we're open for questions now here is my
contact information feel free to contact me with any questions that you may
have
but right now we'll open it up for questions here. Thank you. Fantastic
thank you Anna for all that great information and insight. Audience it is
now time for the Q&A portion of our webinar we see a lot of questions already
but if you have not already take just a minute now to type a question into the
panel for Anna but with that we're going to start with our first question. So
Anna
in nine sexual violence cases how does your laboratory pre-determined if there
is likely to be DNA mixture or not? So those type of cases are few and far in
between but we'll just look at the facts of the case say there's a stain on
like
a bed sheet or something where we would expect a lot of victim DNA as well and
it wasn't part of a sexual assault kit then we might not run that but that does
not happen very often. Okay and who is responsible for determining at the
scene if there is sufficient sample to split? What's their training their
background to make this determination? So at the scene it would be the
responding
either detective, officer or CSI that will determine if there is a
rapid eligible sample. So we go out and train all the agencies we go out on our
recurring basis. There's over 30 agencies in Orange County so depending on the
agency they'll do stuff differently but they're the ones that will at the scene
determine if something's rapid eligible or if they think it is if they have any
questions they'll call us for any help as well. Gotcha okay. Now you indicated
during the presentation that you return the used sample to law enforcement. Are
tested samples retestable? Yes actually we found that there is DNA remaining on
the samples after they've been rapid tested especially since we do limit our
samples to high quantity DNA samples so blood swab, cigarette, we've retest
them
with either traditional testing or rapid testing and we have found that we
still
get usable profiles. Okay that's really interesting.
More about your lab. Does Orange County have a backlog and if so how does the
crime lab incorporate the increased priority of rapid samples into their
day-to-day processing? So there is a backlog at our Orange County crime lab for
property crimes but we only request expedited testing if there was a hit on
the rapid tested sample so if it was rapid tested and we did not have a hit it
'll go through the normal crime lab processing and it wouldn't be expedited
so the number of cases that we have a hit to it has it doesn't it's maybe a one
week or something like that so it doesn't affect the crime lab and pushing
back the current caseload and we haven't heard anything from them as well
because
we work collaboratively with them so if there was an issue we would know. Of
course. What is the minimum quantity of DNA that goes through the rapid hit 200
So there's no quant step in the rapid but through our validation and testing.
We
typically want around 10 to 15 nanograms for a full profile but we can get
profiles off of less or a partial profile that can be used so that's about what
we aim for at least. Okay now are you using the rapid hit 200 for high volume
crime cases? So when they say high volume I'm thinking property crimes is that
correct?
Yes. So yes we do do with so if it's a serious and violent like crimes against
persons that is run right away however if it is a property crime we will wait
until we have a full run of samples and then run that so yes we do do it on a
high volume. Okay can you just detail for us again you know how the rapid hit
200
was validated in your lab? So it wasn't validated by our lab it was validated
at
the DA's office by myself. So we followed SWIDDAM guidelines for
validation testing and did a full validation with like sensitivity studies
mixture studies case examples or case sample type. So we follow the
guidelines there if you want more information it was a long and very
detailed validation so if you want more information on validation testing I
emailed myself or called me. That's great yeah we had a lot of people you
know kind of asking about that. So do you actually train officers from other
counties? We do not go out and train officers from other counties however we
do offer assistance to other counties for major cases or missing persons or
unidentified human remains but we don't actively go out and train them however
if there is a case and we get called up we will work with them and talk to them
and make sure the case is suitable for what we can do. Great so if someone was
looking to understand your protocols and procedures and training materials
would they be able to submit a request for you know your documentation or your
help? Yeah sure you can email me or call me and I can help you out with that
and we can help you with getting some protocols and all the different
documents we have available to you. That's awesome and we definitely have
lots of questions about that so audience follow up with Anna she's awesome.
All right so more questions that came through. Do the non-scientists that run
the rapid machine ever get called to testify in court? So our model is that by
the time the the case comes around to court the rapid the non-rapid portion of
the sample will be tested by the crime law so that there will be the ones
testifying on the stand and we've never had a case where they've asked for the
rapid DNA for us to prevent rapid DNA in court or into testify yet. Gotcha okay
Now the local database you know that you search again does that maintain by the
DA office or is it part of the crime laboratory? Yes it's maintained by the
DA's office so it's maintained by myself and so we have a whole other program
for
our local DNA database with protocols and procedures and collections in place
so
that is a whole separate thing that we do here as well is our DNA database
program. So how many low C are tested in rapid DNA profiling and how many are
needed to be detected in the sample before it can be interpreted and searched
against that database? So the rapid hit 200 does global filers so 21 autosomal
loci and for our database here at the DA's office I need at least seven
identifier loci to be able to search against the database. Okay I know we'll
we'll a forensic scientist like yourself look at every rapid DNA test before it
's
checked against the database or is this kind of limited to cases where the
machine may flag issues? Yes every single run is looked over by a forensic
scientist because we have controls as well that we check and we look at every
single profile that's developed by the rapid hit because we even when it has a
check mark we can see other issues that a non-scientist will not be able to see
so yes every single run is looked over by a forensic scientist.
Any questions? Have you seen any discrepancies between your results on
SWAP B and what the crime lab SWAP A would be? We don't see discrepancies other
than that our crime lab might get more low-sized than us because we have less
sensitivity so they might get a better profile than us as in more low-sized but
we have done a concordance study and through our validation and after the
validation as well so we do see that our results are concordance with what the
crime lab gets. In your practices that you developed with the corner do you
have
any data regarding specimens and success rates? Yes we do so that can be
something that you can contact me as well for there's a lot of different
types of specimens that we have tried with the corner and it depends on case
by case what it is but yes we have had good success with different types of
samples so I can talk to you them personally about that. Absolutely that
makes sense. Okay so in your experience what have you found to be the most
effective way of training officers to collect samples and run the rapid hit
instrument? So here there's different training for collecting and different
training for running the instrument. So we go out to trainer officers at the
different agencies in Orange County so those are the over 30 agencies that I
talked about earlier and you got to make sure you go out on a ongoing basis
even
if you just want a few months ago to the same agency and do your training
because there's a lot of turnover and new people and people get moved positions
from so they're no longer using rapid and then there's new people so that I've
found is you really have to go on a reoccurring basis and remind them about
what is eligible for rapid and then as far as running the instrument that is
done only by employees of the district attorney's office so that's done by
investigators and investigative assistants here and I have a whole
separate training program for that and that mirrors training at a crime lab so
there's observed testing they are do hands-on testing where forensic scientists
observe them there's competency testing there's proficiency testing so that is
very detailed training that we go through and document to make sure they can
run
the instrument on their own. A couple more lab management questions here if you
obtain a rapid hit does the crime lab only process the same samples the rapid
hit ran or do you expediate all samples in the case? So that's case by case but
yes they will run more samples than just what we have run on rapid but for
for purposes that specific rapid sample must be done or should be done.
And what is your schedule look like then to run the rush samples are you call
or
do you have set overnight hours? Yes we're on call so at any time it can be
called to come on in so there's there's no set schedule for that
whoever is available we have most what people trained in running the
instrument so whoever is available for that will come in and forensic
scientists will also come in and investigate. Now when you went through
the whole validation process was it reviewed by a third party? Yes it was we
had actually multiple third-party individuals review it from outside
educational institutions and outside scientists review it after validation
so yes we have had that. Now what would an individual you know voluntarily give
their DNA samples at the courthouse? So that is based on the type of crime and
that's typically done on misdemeanor crimes and so as part of their case
disposition they will also include giving a DNA sample and that's all looked
over
by judge their lawyer the prosecutor so it's that's that is our DNA database
program that's it's done with lots of many consent forms to make sure that they
are they understand what they're doing they understand what they're giving
their
DNA for and why so that it is voluntarily given and that is done all in the
courthouse. Okay did you also test the consensually collected reference
samples through rapid technology or is it a more traditional approach? No those
are not tested through rapid that is done by a private private DNA forensic
lab we are volume for that is way too high to be doing it with rapid DNA.
Okay and now do operators submit a report of their findings and if they do
how detailed is that support? So the report is done by forensic scientist so
it's detailed as in there's what type of samples were on what were the results
was there a hit was there not a hit and we report say there was no hit but
there
was a full profile there was partial profile there was no result so we get
detailed in there and that will be that is given to the law enforcement agency.
Okay now a few questions on the profile then if if no profile is obtained what
could be you know the main reason for that? Well it depends on the sample
sometimes we get samples that could be thought of blood we don't do any
preliminary testing or so it could be that it wasn't blood or there wasn't
enough to get a profile but you don't know how much is on there sometimes we
don't get a profile we get a very partial profile or sometimes we get a great
portfolio it's just sample the sample for those so it's just not not enough DNA
if we get no profile. Gotcha okay. Do you have a general profile success rate
you
know how many times both the crime lab and the rapid hit system created the
same
full profile? I do not have that specifically but for us around 75% of the
time that we run a sample we'll get a profile. Oh wow that's really high yeah
okay so I don't know what it is compared to the crime lab but not as ours. That
's
great often news okay for unidentified remains is there any type of sample
prepped you know from the more difficult sample such as bone that you would
need
to do before using the rapid instrument? We don't typically always do bone it
depends but no we don't do any extra steps we it's just a sample that goes in
there's no other extra I guess processing that goes into place before it gets
put
into the sample well in the instrument if we do get a bone we try to go in and
get like the inside marrow if possible but we don't do any additional
processing.
Okay and we have time for just a few more questions so we'll get to those
quickly. When you are giving your presentation you were talking about the
NEEEC semen sample was the NEEEC semen sample processed as a non-differential
extraction? So when it's a yes so when it's a NEEEC semen sample so those are
typically cases where suspect leaves a deposit somewhere we've had cases where
they leave it deposit DNA on its fence on a book so we believe that we know
that it's a single source so there is no differential extraction our rapid
instrument is actually able to get a full profile off of that without having to
do a differential where they split open the sperm heads or anything like that
and need extra chemical so the extractive on board the rapid instrument can
actually process the semen. Okay great what DNA database software does the
Orange County District Attorney Office use in the rapid program? So we have a
in-house system that we use so it's nothing that's like no name to it.
No branding. We have our own specific system that we use for our DNA database.
Perfect. All right last question and then we're gonna wrap this up just to make
sure are you using the rapid or a modified rapid analysis? So it would
qualify as modified because there is a forensic scientist reviewing all the
data so it is modified as in we don't just take what like the check marks that
are set on the rapid instrument and take it out for what it is. Every single
profile is reviewed by a forensic scientist before ever being searched
to do this. Right okay great. Unfortunately audience that's all the time we had
today but we do thank you for your absolutely great questions. We thank
Anna for her great insight and all the information that she's willing to share
now and in the future as she said. So before we end this program we're just
going to toss it over to Amy from Mindgen. Amy is going to share technique to
evoke relaxation in 10th moments which we've all used right now. Thank you
Michelle
and hi everybody I'm Amy Jay and I'll be transitioning this webinar into a
little bit over resilience training. If you joined us for May I started a
discussion about how to change our perception of stress at work and home.
And today we're going to be learning a couple of quick techniques to help us
rapidly slow down in the moment. The key to rapidly slowing down is introducing
pattern interrupt. You think about a pattern interrupt is something that
allows you to shift and change in the moments. Larger pattern interrupts happen
all the time right. Natural places where it feels sort of like a new beginning
so
dawn and dust could be examples the changing of the seasons new moons and
full moons. This pandemic has been a large pattern interrupt in challenging
how we live and work and so are the protests that are going on they're
calling for large change. But we can learn how to access a change in every
single moment and learn how to transcend stress in the moments by
introducing a pattern interrupt. We all know what happens to us when we let
stress get the best of us right. This leads to anxiety and depression more
anger resentment it can all build up for disease and of course poor
communication. If we want to show up as our best selves even in the most
challenging times and in times of adversity we have to be able to learn how
to shift. We have to be able to learn how to pay attention to our minds and
body and work with the biofeedback that it is telling us so that we can become
grounded in the moment. We want to be able to act so that we don't see things
we
regret so much. We want to be able to act so we have creative solutions and don
't
feel like there is a brain fog that is clouding us from being able to show up
right. Being able to ground in the moment is really helpful in learning how to
be
open to different people's perspectives and of course it can just create a
better
sense of ease and calm and who doesn't want to feel that on most days.
Two quick techniques we're going to work with is the breath and body sensing.
Now breathing is so important because you can access this in any moment. You
can
do it by observing your breath and watching it flowing in and out of your
nose flowing in and out through the body. You can work with your breath through
counting. Sometimes counting the breath can add extra focus and concentration
especially if you're learning how to just build your awareness. You can also
work with your breath by trying to slow it down. When we slow down the breath
we
naturally send signals to the brain to tell it please release what you're doing
in these moments of stress and allow us to enter the stages for healing and
repair. On a research level just learning how to breathe and use breathing as a
pattern interrupts can allow you to access parts of your intellect better so
that
we are not bringing ourselves out from our habitual reactions that so easily
take
control. Learning to slow down and work with the breath can also help with
emotional stability so that we're not you know flying off the handle or having
our amygdala run the show which is where our fight and flight center comes from
is very emotionally controlled and emotionally triggered. So when we can
learn to work with other parts of our brain with better decision-making and
cognitive function we are more balanced with our emotions and our emotional
intelligence as well. And breathing can help with focus and concentration so
especially if you feel that you're all over the place your to-do list is too
long there's so much going on breathing can help you focus you know on a task
that you have at hand so that you can start checking off you know some of the
things you know even if it is just that I need to have better self care today.
Body sensing can be done in different ways but it is moving your awareness
throughout your entire body and you can do this by sending relaxation through
the body so relaxing the face relaxing the shoulders the neck and back. You can
also do this through purely sensing so just using your mind to shift between
different parts of your body. What this has shown through lots of different
research is that body sensing techniques really have a deep relaxation that
occurs because we are sort of a method an anti-flight or flight method it
regulates our nervous system so it puts us more in balance so that we can
control
the yings and the yangs that are happening throughout the day and we're
not as easily triggered by the different stresses that you know may cause us to
act in ways we don't want to. There's been a lot of research in showing that
how body sensing is performed actually changes the structures of our brain
so by using terms such as witnessing and accepting so as you go through the
body I witness and accept my face I witness and accept my chest I witness
and accept my hips you know that can be challenging but what the research has
shown is by witnessing and accepting we're actually building up a tolerance
to deal with adversity and stress a little bit better so things just don't tend
to
bother us as much because we are able to accept them. You know this is
important
for all the little small things that you may fly off the handle with on a daily
basis or things that have been bothering you for a
long time that you don't have any control over. Other terminology such as
bringing your awareness to a place or as you body sense you relax so I'm
relaxing my face I'm relaxing my chest I'm relaxing my legs. Using vocabulary
such as relaxation has actually shown to build up a triggering response so if
normally you have a stress trigger you automatically react it gives you some
moments of pause where you can actually take in the bigger picture
figure out how you want to respond and choose a new course of action.
So even in the terminology research is showing that it has different effects
on the brain and of course it only makes sense that when you enter a deep state
of relaxation it allows your body and your tissues to heal and repair.
You know this naturally would occur at nighttime when you're in a digest and
rest fees and other parts in the day where our body naturally tends to digest
and rest but if you're not sleeping while you have
interrupted sleep you can't fall asleep you're thinking about things
through the day that you you know can't control you're trying to problem solve
and your day is very stressful you're not giving your body time to do the
repair that it needs to do. So for the criminal justice professions
I have taken some of these techniques and brought them together called the
CSI method for stress reduction because I want you to be able to remember it.
Now it doesn't stand for the CSI that you're used to but it does stand for
being
able to count your breath, scan and sense the body
and interrupt the patterns of stress. So let's try this quickly together.
If you want you can close your eyes this will allow you to have better
awareness, reduce distractions, if you're not in a place you're not
comfortable doing that just feel free to keep a soft fuzzy
fuzzy gaze.
And bring your awareness to your breath. I would notice your breath coming in
and
out of your nose and if that is not comfortable for you today then notice
the breath coming in and out of your mouth.
And as you breathe in and breathe out watching the breath
and we're going to count different parts of the breath. The breath has
four phases, an inhalation, a pause, an exhalation and a pause. We're going to
work with three of them today. We're going to inhale to the count of four,
pause to the count of seven and exhale to the count of eight.
This allows us to really slow down the breath and introduce
a pattern interrupt. If those links are uncomfortable for you just do what you
can today. Taking a long slow deep breath in, two, three, four, pause, two,
three,
four, five, six, seven and a long slow deep
exhalation, four, five, six, seven, eight.
And now scan and sense your body starting with your head.
Bringing awareness to your face and your eyes, the area between your eyes.
Bringing awareness to the mouth and jaw,
the neck, the shoulders, the upper back and lower back.
Your chest and abdomen,
both arms, both hands and fingers,
your hips, both legs.
Shift your awareness to both knees, your lower legs,
your ankles and feet.
And now as you scan the body, if there is a place you're holding on to tension,
shift your awareness there.
Send your breath to this area to further add an interruption
of the stress pattern that it's occurring.
There is some type of tension or issue that is being held onto.
You could choose today to send your breath and relax that area,
or you could choose today to send your breath and witness and accept.
Now this technique can be done in just a matter of seconds,
especially when you're doing it with your mind.
It can be done in any moments, in any place.
Just remember to work with counting your breath, scanning and sensing the body,
and that just one or both of those techniques together
are allowing you to just take a moment to assess what is going on,
become grounded and rapidly slow down.
This technique is available for download.
If you haven't seen it already, you can download the worksheet
and it'll take you through how to do this technique in case you want to
practice working with it.
I would work with this anytime that you know that you might be triggered.
So before you're going into a meeting that might seem stressful,
before you pick up the phone when you're working, if you are going to a crime
scene,
if you're about to testify in court, if the world is just feeling a little bit
heavy,
you could wake up and do this technique or before you go to sleep, do this
technique.
We'll continue this discussion over the next few months.
I'll join you next in August where we'll talk about generalization of facts or
techniques that
can be used outside of stressful moments in order to build up our tolerance a
little bit better.
Really, it's giving us more resiliency to handle adversity.
In September, we'll talk about the science behind gratitude and how that can
change our
perceptions of stress. And then in October, I will use the time to take you
through a technique
that will relax you down to the cellular level.
I would love to stay connected with you, especially enjoy getting feedback on
what's working and
what's not working. If you liked some of these rapidly slowing down techniques,
I have more on
my website, mindgenLC.com. Download Instant Calm. This has five other rough
techniques that you can
use at your desk, in the lab, or on the go. And I will turn it back over to
Michelle to transition
the end of this webinar. And thank you for having me today.
All right, audience, that about wraps up all the time we have for today. I'd
like to thank
Thermo Fisher Scientific for sponsoring this webinar, our speakers and an Amy,
and of course,
you, the audience for your attendance and participation.
Shortly, you will receive an email with information on how to obtain CE credit
documentation for
your participation. The third webinar in the six part Future Trends in Forensic
DNA Technology
will be held on July 16 at 8am Pacific 11am Eastern. You can register for
finding the right
tool for the job, CE tools that improve efficiency and save time on the
forensic website, www.ferenzichmag.com,
where you can also view other webinars in this series on demand. Thank you and
have a wonderful day.
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