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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0:00
Hello and welcome to the power of rapid DNA results brought to you by forensic
0:05
and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. This is the second webinar in the
0:09
sixth
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part future trends in forensic DNA technology webinar series. My name is
0:14
Michelle Taylor editor-in-chief of forensic and I will be your moderator
0:18
throughout. For today's webinar you can earn one hour of continuing education
0:22
credit. Following the conclusion of the webinar you will receive an email with
0:26
information on how to obtain CE credit documentation. We have a great lineup
0:31
scheduled to present to you today but before we begin I'd like to take just a
0:35
moment to cover a few logistics. At the end of the first presentation we will
0:40
hold a question and answer session. To ask a question click on the ask a
0:45
question tab in the upper right corner of your screen. Please also take note
0:49
that
0:49
the right side of the screen features an overview of today's webinar as well as
0:53
more information about our speakers. If you have a technical question during
0:57
today's event click on me test your connection button on the bottom of your
1:01
screen. From there you can access additional webinar support. We also
1:06
invite you to use the social media widgets beneath the webinar to share
1:10
with your friends and colleagues. Today you will be hearing from Anna Dehania
1:16
a forensic scientist in the Orange County District Attorney's Office. In this
1:21
role she is an administrator for Orange County's DNA database the largest
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consensual local DNA database in the United States. In this webinar Anna will
1:30
explain how the rapid DNA program works including case examples and best
1:35
practices for successful partnerships with local law enforcement and the crime
1:39
lab. Anna is a vital part of her agency's rapid DNA program as she is involved
1:44
in
1:44
validation, troubleshooting and training among other duties. We will have a
1:49
short
1:49
Q&A after Anna's presentation so please do submit any questions you may have
1:53
for
1:53
her. To close out the webinar Amy Jugwuna owner of MindGen will share
2:00
techniques to evoke relaxation intense moments. Amy teaches sustainable
2:04
solutions to embody resilience at work and at home. She founded MindGen after
2:10
managing a crime laboratory and seeing how stress and trauma affected the
2:13
quality of work and life for herself and her colleagues. We thank you for
2:19
attending the second session in the six part Future Trends in Forensic DNA
2:23
Technology webinar series. After the webinar please be sure to check your email
2:28
for more information on CE Credit documentation. We look forward to seeing
2:32
you on July 16th for the part three finding the right tools for the job CE
2:38
tools that improve efficiency and save time. Now without further ado I'm going
2:43
to
2:43
hand it off to Anna to get us started. Thank you Michelle for your introduction
2:46
I'm excited to be talking about the rapid DNA program here at the Orange
2:50
County District Attorney's Office. In addition to the program I'll be talking
2:54
about some of our best practices, the lessons we've learned over the years and
2:57
the impact we have seen. Orange County is located in beautiful Southern
3:03
California
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it's known for its beautiful beaches, beautiful shoreline and for Disneyland.
3:08
We're nestled right in between LA County and San Diego County and we have
3:13
around
3:14
three million residents making it the sixth most populous county in the United
3:17
States. It has over 35 law enforcement agencies where all the
3:22
prosecution is done by the Orange County District Attorney's Office. We also
3:27
have
3:27
a county crime lab, the Orange County Crime Lab, that does all the forensics
3:31
including our DNA testing. Rapid DNA however is done at the Orange County
3:36
District Attorney's Office. We have the Science and Technology Unit which
3:40
consists
3:41
of attorneys, paralegals, investigative assistants, investigators and forensic
3:46
scientists such as myself. In addition to the rapid DNA program we have a DNA
3:52
database collection program. There we have the consensual collection of DNA
3:57
from individuals as part of a negotiated court disposition. So it's done in
4:01
front
4:02
of a judge with attorneys present where an individual can voluntarily give
4:08
their
4:08
DNA as part of their court case. And we collect this DNA at each of our five
4:13
county court houses. This DNA is processed and put into our local OCD
4:20
DNA database. We have around 195,000 profiles from individuals in our database
4:27
which were collected as part of our collection program. We also have almost
4:32
13,000 crime scene profiles that were developed by the Orange County Crime
4:37
Lab and sent to the DA's office to be a search against our local DNA database.
4:44
We run this database weekly. This is apart from Rapid DNA. We get all of the
4:50
crime scene profiles that were also uploaded to CODIS. We'll get those from
4:55
the Orange County Crime Lab and search against our database to see if we can
4:58
provide them any hits. Now the Orange County Rapid DNA program is available to
5:05
all Orange County law enforcement at no charge to them. It is funded by
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Proposition 69 which funds DNA related programs. We started with the pilot
5:18
program back in 2014 and they went county-wide in 2015. Rapid DNA has a
5:26
ton of potential which we have seen here in Orange County. It can help develop
5:31
investigative leads and can also establish probable cause to obtain a
5:35
search warrant or an arrest warrant. This can be done one of two ways. This is
5:40
where our OCD DNA database comes into play. We can test a crime scene sample on
5:46
the Rapid DNA instrument and then search it against our OCD database and
5:51
hopefully we can get a hit and provide this information to law enforcement. We
5:56
can also do a quick exclusion or inclusion by testing a suspect buckle
6:00
standard which we can compare to an already existing DNA profile. That could
6:05
be done by the crime lab. They already have this profile or we could also have
6:08
run that on the Rapid DNA instrument. Here we use the Rapid Hit 200
6:15
instrument. It was validated back in 2014 by forensic scientists including
6:23
myself using the SWIG DAM guidelines for validation. The instrument uses all
6:29
disposable one-time use cartridges and can run up to seven samples out once.
6:35
This
6:35
is including controls. Once the run has started it takes about two hours to
6:41
complete and get results. There's multiple cartridges. So cartridge A and
6:48
cartridge B have the polymer and the buffer and then the sample cartridges is
6:53
where we put the samples and it contains the PCR reagents and the
7:00
extraction reagents. So everything that's kind of done with extraction, PCR is
7:06
done within these cartridges. You can see there's different packets where there
7:15
's
7:15
liquids and it uses force and mechanics to move these liquids to do the
7:21
extraction and it moves to the bottom where PCR reagents are added and PCR
7:27
amplification is done at the very bottom up with this black plate. Once PCR is
7:33
over it is injected into the instrument where the capillary is housed and
7:39
there's run through the capillaries in the instrument. We have strict protocols
7:46
on samples that we collect and accept for a Rapid DNA program. The law
7:53
enforcement agencies themselves will collect the evidence and then bring them
7:57
over to Rapid DNA program here if it is eligible. First and foremost are most
8:03
important thing is that they're sufficient sample to collect two samples.
8:07
The crime lab is of the most priority so they have the priority for any sample.
8:13
So if there's only enough to collect one sample it should be going to the crime
8:17
lab. So we use the swab A and swab B techniques. So swab A is for the crime
8:21
lab and that's a priority and that will be used for court and for codus upload.
8:25
If there's any sample remaining then that could be submitted to the Rapid
8:31
DNA program and that will be used for our investigative lead purposes. We also
8:36
limit the type of samples that can be submitted. The Rapid DNA instrument needs
8:41
high quantity of DNA so we've limited it based off of our validation what we
8:47
see
8:48
that and produce good results. So that includes blood samples, vocal swabs,
8:53
saliva,
8:54
cigarette butt filter paper which we have the iktis cut in half same with gum
8:59
that will be cut in half so one half goes to the crime lab and one half will
9:03
come
9:03
to us. We will also run semen samples but only if it's neat semen so it cannot
9:08
be from a sexual assault kit. You can see on the screen here the ideal sample
9:15
size for a Rapid DNA blood sample is about the size of pencil or razor head.
9:23
So it doesn't need a lot of blood to get a good stain so there are a lot of
9:28
instances where there is a large stain of blood. So the first swab taken can be
9:33
the one for the crime lab and then the second one with what's remaining can be
9:37
sampled for our Rapid program. So samples that we will not run against in the
9:45
Rapid instrument so any faint blood stains that should go straight to the
9:49
crime lab and we won't cut the swabs either. Drinking containers straws touch
9:56
samples we can't really see or estimate well how much DNA is there so we would
10:01
rather have them get their best chances at the crime lab. In any samples where
10:06
mixture of DNA suspected we will not run so that includes any samples in a
10:11
sexual assault kit because the Rapid DNA instrument does not handle
10:16
mixtures as we would expect. So we only want single source samples. So we will
10:27
run this Rapid DNA instrument on both searsome violent crime and property
10:33
crime. So our OCDA supervising investigator handles and approves all
10:37
requests for Rapid DNA testing. He gets the facts of the case from the law
10:42
enforcement
10:43
agency, what type of samples they have and the probative nature of the samples.
10:47
We'll only run samples if they truly provide probative information for the
10:52
case. If it is a serious and violent crime we'll run the instrument immediately
10:57
whether it's during working hours or after hours it's available to local
11:02
enforcement at any time. In that case the OCDA supervising investigator will
11:08
review the facts of the case and see if it justifies immediate rapid DNA
11:13
testing and we'll make sure that everyone that's needed for testing is
11:17
available. If it's a non-serious and violent crime such as a property crime
11:21
we wait until we have a full run of samples so that's about five samples.
11:28
So we'll wait until we have a full run of samples from different agencies it
11:35
doesn't have to be the same agencies and we'll do this testing on a weekly
11:38
basis.
11:39
All the evidence is handled and tested by trained rapid operators and they're
11:47
actually non-scientists that run the instrument and they've been trained and
11:51
I'll discuss training a little bit later on how to handle our evidence. They
11:57
accept
11:57
the evidence they track it in our OCDA Rapid Case Tracking System and whenever
12:02
a run is done it also has a positive control which is just a known buckle
12:07
swab and a negative control which is just an empty well and that's run with
12:12
any run of evidence. Once the two hours is complete and there is data at the
12:18
end
12:18
of the run the profile data is downloaded by myself a forensic scientist for
12:23
review.
12:23
If the controls pass and the profile meets our quality criteria so you know
12:31
it has enough loci to work of search I'll search it against the OCDA data.
12:37
And when I search a crime scene sample I'll search in both against crime scenes
12:43
that are already in our database and against individuals in our data. So we
12:47
can get hits to both crime scene to crime scene and individual to individual.
12:51
Once the run is complete the tested evidence is actually removed from the
12:57
cartridges and dried in a secure locker space and once that is complete it'll
13:04
be returned to our the police departments we don't keep any of this
13:07
evidence. Now say we have a hit that's when the ball really starts rolling we
13:16
have an immediate rapid DNA notification that goes out to a law enforcement
13:19
agency and follow-up investigation is expedited so they can interview witnesses
13:25
conduct photo lineups search for additional evidence, author search warrants in
13:31
rapid fashion just like the rapid DNA testing was. It's important that they
13:37
provide all the reports to our prosecutors as soon as possible because
13:42
since it is rapid we want to get stuff done as quick as possible and get the
13:48
case file as soon as possible. We also have to coordinate with the Orange
13:53
County crime law with any of our testing. Our supervising investigator
13:58
notifies the crime law of any evidence run of a rapid DNA instrument so they
14:02
know that it's also been run here. They test their primary piece of evidence so
14:08
those results can be uploaded to codus and can be used as evidence for court.
14:12
Also if we do have a hit our OCD a prosecutor will coordinate expedited
14:18
testing of the crime scene evidence and if there's a confirmation reference
14:22
swab if they're going to file the case because once the case is filed they have
14:27
10 court days from arrest to take the case of preliminary hearing. So in normal
14:32
circumstances with the codus hit for example the hit will come and then they
14:38
will make the arrest. However with rapid DNA we'll get a rapid DNA hit so they
14:44
have not tested the piece of evidence at the crime lab yet so if there is a hit
14:50
and they need to bring this evidence to court in 10 days the crime lab will
14:54
have
14:54
to expedited so it does require us to have constant communication with our
14:58
crime lab. Some of the best practices that I've learned over the years with
15:05
this rapid DNA program it's of utmost importance at the crime law. It's
15:10
priority for evidence. We do not want to compromise any evidence that will be
15:14
used for court so it's very important to use the swab A and swab B technique.
15:18
If there's not enough evidence for a split send it to the crime lab for testing.
15:23
If
15:23
it's if it's a serious and violent crime just you need to ask for expedited
15:26
testing but you don't want to compromise the evidence to run it in rapid and
15:32
not
15:32
have a piece of evidence for the crime lab to test. In addition we're not
15:40
always
15:40
going to get a full profile on the rapid DNA instrument so traditional crime
15:44
law testing can still generate a profile even if the rapid DNA instrument does
15:49
not because that type of testing has greater sensitivity and they have more
15:54
methods of testing because they have more instrumentation to their for their
16:00
use. Also a big thing is that rapid DNA evidence is not currently eligible for
16:06
coders so you still want this profile uploaded to coders through your coders
16:11
lab and is not used for court in our county. In addition a rapid hit may
16:20
establish probable cause if the evidence is prohibited so really really
16:26
important that this rapid DNA tested is coordinated with your prosecutors.
16:31
Since
16:31
here our rapid DNA program is done at the Orange County DA's office it's easy
16:37
because we have prosecutors here that are assigned in the science or
16:43
technology unit to file the case. However if you have a rapid DNA program say
16:47
at
16:47
your crime lab or at a local law enforcement agencies it's really
16:52
important that you coordinate and talk with your prosecutors so that when you
16:56
do get a hit they can be in the know and can file the case right away. Here we
17:03
have all rapid hits assigned to the science of technology units so a
17:07
specified deputy a handles the filing of every case and they also assist our
17:12
law enforcement right writing any sort warrants or arrest warrants that they
17:16
may need. These warrants are based on the rapid training that they receive that
17:22
the law enforcement receives and it focuses on the reliability of the rapid
17:25
DNA test results because rapid DNA is new while DNA testing and PCR is not new
17:31
rapid DNA is new so judges may not have seen this yet it may not know what they
17:36
're
17:36
looking at to see that this establishes probable cause. So the search warrant
17:44
focuses on that. It's also very important that for discovery purposes and there
17:50
is
17:50
a program in place to ensure that rapid DNA discovery is provided under any
17:55
scenarios when the sample is tested under the rapid DNA program so whether
18:01
there's no profile generated there wasn't a hit or there was a hit if a sample
18:06
from
18:06
that case is run in the rapid DNA instrument we will provide discovery and
18:11
this includes you know pictures reports that are generated by our tracking
18:16
system
18:16
the data files exported by the rapid DNA instrument and electrophirograms is
18:23
part of the discovery. We also maintain chain of custody here at the Orange
18:33
County DA's office we store all of our evidence in secure lockers and it's
18:38
immediately logged into our own evidence tracking system and this
18:43
tracking system you know it gives a barcode to each item of evidence it tracks
18:47
the movement of evidence from being locked in the evidence locker to be run
18:52
on the instrument and then being packed up again and return to the agencies at
18:57
the end when a rapid sample is returned to the agency we also generate a
19:03
release form that is given to the law enforcement agency to include in their
19:09
police report and also will be included in our discovery. We document
19:15
everything we do if there's a hit we'll provide a hit letter to the agency it
19:21
includes description of any samples that were tested and searched in our
19:26
database if there's a hit to an individual the name and the photo of the
19:30
individual be included in the hit letter if there's a hit to a crime scene then
19:36
to another crime scene then the description of that crime scene
19:41
evidence will also be included in the hit letter. We also make sure to document
19:46
if we do not have a hit so that also includes the type of samples that were
19:51
tested description and the results so why was there no hit was there no profile
19:57
was there a partial profile that we couldn't search against database or we
20:01
got a profile that we searched against the database but there was no hit in our
20:08
database so we document everything and we give this documentation to the
20:12
agencies that are running their samples with the RapidDNA program. We also have
20:19
a robust set of protocols that were in place before we even launched our rapid
20:24
DNA program because it's really we found it's really important to have a
20:28
structure before starting the program so everything is done with some thought
20:35
and foresight. The program protocols were developed including our legal teams
20:41
our
20:41
lawyers law enforcement investigators and the forensic scientists. Some of the
20:47
things that includes this criteria for sample acceptance how to collect
20:52
samples procedures for notification reports training and forms that we may
20:59
use. So we also I mentioned we have trained rapid operators that are non
21:08
scientists and we have a specialized training program for them before they
21:13
can ever run samples against our rapid DNA instrument. So it's a formalized
21:20
training program and it was modeled after any a normal crime lab training so
21:25
there's required readings there's observations and supervised training and
21:29
to finally get signed off on using or operating the rapid DNA instrument they
21:35
will take a mock samples competency test in addition to our written exam and
21:40
once
21:41
they've completed all this then they will be available to run our rapid DNA
21:46
instrument and in our office we have both investigators and investigative
21:52
assistants running our instrument and then we have forensic scientists that
21:58
review the data so I will review the data and will analyze it and search it
22:05
against our database and then there's also separate training program
22:08
specifically
22:09
for scientists. As part of the training program we also get proficially tested
22:13
twice a year and we do the proficiencies through the CTS proficially testing.
22:23
We also train all of our law enforcement we go out to the agencies to provide
22:29
training for proper evidence collection for how to submit to our program what
22:34
can be submitted what they should expect from our program so we go out
22:39
periodically to different agencies to provide this training so that not only
22:43
do they remember how to collect and what they can collect but it also get
22:48
reminds them that hey this rapid DNA program is available for their use and
22:53
can provide them important leads in many cases. In our training we'll train
23:00
detectives officers and also their CSI and right now there's over 700 trained
23:07
law enforcement personnel from over 30 county agencies over the years we've
23:13
trained. So our rapid DNA program started in 2014 and went county wide in 2015
23:23
and
23:23
we have learned many lessons through that whole whole time. It was not smooth
23:28
sailing from the beginning so there's a lot of lessons that have been learned
23:33
and I think would be helpful for anybody else that's starting a rapid DNA
23:36
program.
23:37
It's very important to have buy-in from all parties for success that includes
23:43
local law enforcement, local prime lab and the prosecutor's office. You can't
23:48
have
23:48
just one party running the rapid DNA program without buy-in from the
23:53
others. As a prosecutor's office here we needed to have buy-in from the local
23:58
law enforcement because we're going to be running their samples and we're
24:01
providing investigating leads to the local law enforcement. We also needed to
24:08
make sure that the crime labs on board because the evidence that they test will
24:15
be used in our court cases so we got to make sure that they have a stake in
24:20
this
24:20
so they will coordinate the expedited testing for us when we have a rapid DNA
24:25
hit. With the rapid DNA program we also saw the power of the local DNA database
24:34
As long as rapid DNA profiles from crime scene evidence is not allowed to be
24:39
searching quotas, a rapid DNA program will truly be powerful with a local
24:48
DNA database attached to it. I'll be going to some of our statistics a little
24:53
bit
24:53
later but about 40% of our rapid profiles that can be searched so any time that
24:59
we
25:00
have a searchable profile they result in a hit in the OCD and AD base. So with
25:06
the
25:06
database we get the hit and we can start the hit process and the notification
25:14
process and immediately notify hopefully within a few hours to law
25:19
enforcement agency this hit that they've gotten. If it's a serious or violent
25:24
crime
25:25
we'd be running it right away so they would get the hit hours after the crime
25:31
and we've also noticed that the number of cases where we have a suspect
25:37
comparison at the time of rapid DNA testing of the crime scene sample it's
25:42
very limited. Most of the samples that we get law enforcement agencies are
25:46
asking
25:47
for us to search against our database. So without our database the rapid DNA
25:53
program would not be the success it is today. Our local DNA database is modeled
26:00
by using the court system so the consensual collection of DNA at the
26:06
courthouse but that's not the only way that it can be done. You know the lab
26:11
the lab owns their profile data so you can use any DNA database software and
26:17
upload your data there and can harness that that DNA data information as a
26:23
local DNA database. So a lot of people when they ask about our program they
26:29
they find a daunting that we already have a DNA database program. So we've had
26:34
this program since 2007 so this was prior to rapid DNA so rapid DNA was a
26:41
perfect fit for us. So a lot of people when they're starting a rapid DNA
26:45
program
26:46
and also look at starting a database at the same time they could find them this
26:50
daunting especially if they're going to use the model that we do. However it's
26:55
not the only way and you can use the power of your crime lab and the
26:59
information that they have to develop a DNA database.
27:05
We've also seen that forensic scientists are an integral part of the program.
27:10
You
27:10
cannot leave them out whether they're employed and you know like here at the
27:15
DA's office or forensic scientists at the crime lab working in partnership with
27:19
a law enforcement agency it's very important to have forensic scientists. For
27:24
one there is more interpretable data if it's reviewed by a forensic scientist.
27:29
When a result is developed on the rapid DNA instrument you know the
27:36
interface just shows a check mark a green check mark if it's good. However
27:42
sometimes it doesn't show this green check mark but it could be for something
27:46
that doesn't make a difference to the DNA profile. The system can flag for
27:50
pull-up for off-ladders for imbalance for artifacts such as spikes. So when you
27:55
really have a good profile there but the system flags it then if you don't have
28:02
a forensic scientist to help you won't be able to search that profile. In
28:06
addition
28:07
partial profiles so if you don't have a full global file or profile let's say
28:11
one locus is missing or a few loci are missing the rest of the data is still
28:17
usable so partial profiles can still be searched and if you don't have a
28:22
forensic scientist you wouldn't be able to search that data. So we see a lot
28:26
more
28:26
usable data by having forensic scientists review the data. Also with the
28:33
forensic scientists they're important for the validation of the instrument and
28:37
also training and providing guidance to the operators of the instrument.
28:41
Because we
28:42
have non-scientists operating the instruments really important to have
28:46
scientists overseeing the whole program. Also there's any problems with the
28:52
maintenance and troubleshooting of the instrument. Forensic scientists can
28:57
detect
28:57
problems more quickly with the instrument and communicate with the
29:02
engineer to fix any issues whereas non-scientists would not have that
29:07
knowledge to help troubleshooting an instrument. It's also important to have
29:11
forensic scientists because they will maintain quality standards that are
29:15
expected in forensic science testing and that it's done with good standards and
29:23
good protocols in place. We've also seen that it's really important to keep
29:29
your
29:30
data and stats up to date. Because rapid DNA testing requires funding and there
29:35
are plenty of critics we've seen that you may have to justify your program or
29:40
you may get media requests for statistics. So by keeping the data on hand you
29:45
can
29:45
easily provide data to show how successful your rapid your rapid
29:49
DNA program has been and why the funding is important. I just use a simple
29:55
Excel spreadsheet and keep data about not only the rapid testing and the
29:59
results of the testing but also the case disposition. So was the case filed?
30:06
Was the
30:06
case completed? Was it a guilty? Was it a plea? Was it a jury trial? And the
30:15
days
30:15
that has taken from one step to the next. Because we've seen with rapid DNA
30:18
testing through keeping our data and stats that the time that it takes within
30:23
the court system is much less than if it was normal and done at the crime
30:30
lab. This is just an example as one of the statistics we keep is just sample
30:36
types. We've had over 640 samples tested since the start of the program and we
30:43
've
30:43
seen the majority of our evidence is actually just blood and about a third of
30:47
our evidence is cigarette butts. It's also important to start small especially
30:56
for
30:56
us in a county that's so large we didn't want to make it county wide right
31:00
away because we wanted to learn and test out the program before going county
31:04
wide
31:04
to so many people. So we tested it out with the pilot program about of about
31:08
six
31:09
agencies and there are a lot of lessons we learned through that we learned that
31:13
an evidence tracking system is necessary we did not have that in place before
31:16
the
31:17
pilot program. It's important that we're still learning today that we need to
31:20
encourage submission to the rapid DNA program. Training is essential. Training
31:27
is essential not only at the beginning but to continue training because people
31:31
get promoted they leave their positions at the law enforcement agencies so
31:35
there's
31:36
a constantly new people that need to be trained and also there's resistance to
31:40
change. Not everyone will be up to you know doing rapid DNA right away. They
31:46
see
31:46
that something different they don't they see that something not normal so you
31:50
might have to convince some people that hey the rapid DNA program will really
31:53
benefit you and encourage submission. Something else that we've learned we
32:02
weren't doing at the beginning is testing unidentified human remains. Our
32:06
coroner's office has many Jane and John Doe's that they receive and
32:11
unfortunately
32:12
when they send up DNA samples to the state for testing it can take a very long
32:20
time to get our results back and in addition to that those samples are only
32:26
searched against the missing persons indexing coded. So here at the DA's office
32:31
we can actually search any John Doe's against our DNA database to see if you
32:37
can get a match. They may or may not be victims of a crime they just might be
32:41
an identified body. In every case is different there could be different stage
32:46
stages of decomposition. We've had bodies that were left outside for a few
32:51
weeks before they were recovered. Burn remains, bodies in water, found at the
32:57
beach. So every case is different so it's very very important to keep a
33:00
dialogue
33:01
with the coroner in the medical examiner or your medical examiner to test the
33:05
best possible samples to obtain DNA. Success on obtaining DNA profile
33:11
varies depending on you know the state of decomposition, what you have, what is
33:17
left to test and there's been a lot of trial and error that we've seen when
33:23
testing unidentified human remains. Actually one of the if we can get it
33:29
males have been very successful for us on our rapid DNA instrument of obtaining
33:34
a profile and a lot of times when these bodies are decomposed sometimes nails
33:39
is what's left over. We may or may not have a family reference for a kinship
33:46
analysis. If there is, we'll do the kinship analysis right away. If there's no
33:50
family references and they have no idea who it is we will search it against our
33:54
database. It's also important that if possible if there are fingerprints that
33:58
the coroner runs life scan first so that if they can get an ID through life
34:04
scan
34:05
we don't have to use the resources of rapid DNA to identify them. Here at the
34:13
DA's office through the years it's been almost five years since we've gone
34:18
countywide so we've seen a huge impact and we've been keeping statistics and
34:23
case examples that show really how it's impacted our community here. So since
34:33
the beginning of when our program went countywide we've tested around over 400
34:40
cases and there could be one sample per case or multiple samples per case it
34:46
just depends on the case but around 77% of those cases we're able to obtain a
34:52
searchable profile that can be searched against our local DNA database. And of
34:58
those cases about 42% have a hit so that is a high percentage of cases that we
35:06
can get a hit and immediately notify law enforcement of the individual. Of the
35:14
cases with hits about 81% of those cases are able to be filed. Right now we
35:23
have about 4% that are pending filing and that could just be because it's a
35:27
recent hit and there might be some follow-up necessary but that's a very
35:33
high percentage of cases that are filed and of the cases that are filed 87%
35:41
we receive a conviction. About 12% or we have received a conviction. About 12%
35:47
are pending still and we have 1% that's an acquittal or dismissal so that was
35:54
actually just one case where that defended actually passed away before
35:59
trial so that ended up being a dismissal. So other adjudicated cases we have
36:05
with
36:05
the rapid DNA program a 99% conviction rate. Now if you compare this to
36:14
codus hits and local DNA database hits that are samples that are run at the
36:18
crime lab and sent over to codus or to the local database for searching we see
36:23
about 40% of those are filed. Our DDA's here at the Science Technology Unit
36:30
they
36:30
review all of our codus hits unless it's asexual assault, a homicide or gang
36:35
related. So any other DNA case any other codus hit or local database hit they
36:40
will
36:41
be reviewing and that's a stark contrast to the 80% we saw for our rapid DNA.
36:47
You
36:47
can see 34% are pending and that shows that there's a lot more what if a hit
36:52
is obtained much later from the time of the crime there's a lot more follow-up
36:57
that is necessary. So those are pending because you know the DDA might have
37:00
asked
37:01
the agency to perform some follow-up maybe interview witnesses get some
37:07
additional evidence before they can actually file the case. And here at the
37:13
DDA's office we see justice delayed is justice denied. So if we can get a rapid
37:18
DNA hit right away instead of waiting for weeks at the crime lab or even months
37:25
it's easier to locate an interview witnesses you have greater opportunities
37:30
collect the physical evidence and you know after a few months of the of a crime
37:36
and getting a hit months and months later witness recollection is not a
37:40
strong and even the interviewer interview with the defendant is not a strong
37:45
either
37:45
you're able to obtain a timely statement timely statements from
37:49
defendants or witnesses right after the crime and that are fresh and they can
37:52
remember all the details. Also for victims by having a resolution to the crime
37:59
early it provides reduced stress and reduced trauma for them and it also
38:05
increases our chances of recovering any stolen property and it just increases
38:10
the victim's sense of justice and security and so and same with society
38:14
it can also prevent further crime and stops crime squeeze and it also allows
38:19
for quick resolution in our criminal justice system so it allows law
38:23
enforcement agencies and the court system and the DDA's to focus on other
38:27
cases because these cases run through the system much more quickly and are
38:32
closed much more quickly. And also rapid DNA can provide good can provide
38:38
results
38:38
to exonerate or and it will be a quick result that you don't have to wait weeks
38:45
and months for that the correct person is identified through DNA testing right
38:53
away instead of waiting for months that could happen at the crime lab. I'm just
38:59
going to go over a few case examples with the time I have remaining. So here's
39:07
an
39:07
example from back in 2016 and this is a great case that shows different aspects
39:13
of rapid DNA and how it can be beneficial. So back in March 31st 2016
39:20
there's a residential burglary where over $5,000 worth of tools were stolen.
39:24
Just the next day they submitted cigarette butts that were left behind.
39:28
The resident said that they don't smoke it's not their cigarette butts so we
39:31
tested the cigarettes in the rapid DNA instrument and immediately got a hit to
39:37
our defendant. The local law enforcement agency actually knew this individual.
39:43
They knew him as through other crimes and he had a girlfriend and they went
39:47
over to the girlfriend's mother's house where the suspect was and arrested him
39:52
the very next day after the hit. So in addition to arresting the suspect the
39:59
next day they were able to recover all $5,000 worth of the tools that were
40:04
stolen. They were getting prepared to take pictures and sell these things on
40:10
Craigslist but we were able to recover it. A month later another cigarette butt
40:15
hit to his girlfriend and less than a month and a half after the crime the
40:23
suspects pled guilty. So that was a very quick resolution to this case and
40:29
also important to note that the suspects DNA sample was collected on a
40:34
misdemeanor back in 2015 of carrying a load of firearms. So our OCD database
40:39
consists of individuals that have been collected for lower level crimes
40:46
voluntarily as part of their case disposition. So you can see that he was
40:51
collected for a lower lower crime and we were able to solve a bigger crime
40:55
through this. And these showed the tools that were collected at the girlfriend
41:01
's
41:02
mother's house that they were getting prepared to list on a Craigslist and sell
41:07
Here is a case that was a brutal stabbing in the head and neck by gang
41:13
members and luckily the victim survived and he actually gave a name of someone
41:20
that who he thought was his assailant. Just one day after the data violation
41:26
they
41:27
brought in blood swabs from a blood trail at the scene and we ran it right
41:32
away and searched against our database and we teamed it obtained a hit. This
41:37
hit
41:37
was actually some somebody else that the victim did not name so we actually
41:43
were able to exonerate the person that the victim name and point them to the
41:48
correct individual. They found this defendant that same day arrested him and
41:52
he gave a full confession and also had multiple cuts on his fingers from the
41:56
stabbing. And just three days later after the data violation the case was filed
42:02
and the defendant was charged with attempted murder. So you can see how
42:05
quickly the rapid DNA testing can move a case and get a case resolution. So
42:12
this
42:12
case is actually still pending in the courts but you can see that just three
42:17
days later we're able to get a violent offender off the streets that stabs
42:23
someone else. Here's an example of a defendant who was committing multiple
42:30
vandalism and burglaries in Santa Ana with the same ML. So they didn't know
42:36
who it was but they knew that it was all related and then they had two crime
42:39
scenes where they had blood swabs. So blood swabs were submitted to the rapid
42:46
DNA program and we tested them and they both matched each other so it
42:52
confirmed that you know it's the same individual and we got a hit in our
42:55
database. Less than ten days later the case was filed for seven commercial
43:03
burglaries and vandalism and the suspect then pled guilty. The case was
43:10
filed in August and then by March the suspect pled guilty and was later
43:15
sentenced to three years in jail for his crimes. And the suspect's DNA sample
43:21
was
43:21
in our database for a misdemeanor possession of a meth pipe. Here is another
43:28
example of a case where the victim was actually robbed with a gun and the
43:39
defendant threatened to shoot him and it was after a actual consensual act in
43:44
the victim's car. So there was a condom collected at the scene. Seven days
43:50
later
43:51
after the data violation the law enforcement agency actually swabbed the
43:54
semen left behind in the condom and submitted it submitted it to our program
44:00
for rapid DNA testing. So that's an example of a case where we had neat
44:05
semen to test. So we tested the semen swab and it hit to our defendant that
44:11
same day. And two days later a search warrant was executed on the defendant's
44:16
home where they found all the stolen property and the defendant gave a full
44:20
confession. So two weeks later after the crime the case was filed and they
44:26
filed
44:27
it for robbery and criminal threats which are both strike offenses. So you can
44:31
see
44:31
just a week after a rapid DNA testing that they were able to file this case.
44:39
This is another example which is actually shows something that's scary
44:48
which was a there were two residential burglaries where the residents were
44:52
actually in their homes and asleep when this happened. The first one in
44:56
February
44:57
of this year 11 family members were asleep and there was a loss of $25,000.
45:02
And two days later the same defendant committed another residential burglary
45:07
where the residents were asleep. The very next day blood swab was submitted for
45:13
rapid DNA testing from the first burglary and the next day we were able to do
45:17
the
45:17
rapid testing and provide a hit to the defendant. The video before showed that
45:23
it was the same suspect so they were able to link the blood swab from the
45:29
first burglary to the second burglary through video. Eight days later after the
45:35
first residential burglary they were they arrested the defendant and the case
45:41
was filed the very next day. So you can see just nine days after the first
45:45
residential burglary the case was filed for two residential burglaries and our
45:51
suspect was in our database for a misdemeanor of a hit and run. And my final
45:59
example is to show how we can not only use rapid DNA against our database but
46:04
how you can use it as a direct comparison. Back in 2015 when our program was
46:11
first
46:11
started there was a homicide where there were blood smears found at a brick
46:16
wall
46:16
nearby. We got DNA from the blood swabs and we got a profile but there was no
46:22
hit on a database. Meanwhile detectives had learned some additional information
46:28
and had two potential suspects so they collected voluntary elimination
46:35
swabs for the for these suspects and brought these swabs over for rapid
46:40
DNA testing. And while they had these suspects in custody we were able to test
46:45
these rapid DNA buckle swabs and able to identify one of the two suspects was
46:52
matched to the blood found at the scene. So one person was able to be let go
46:58
and
46:59
then one person was arrested and through that the evidence was also recovered
47:04
from
47:04
the suspects belonging. The case was filed right away two days after the
47:11
rapid testing against the suspect and about a year later the defendant was
47:17
found guilty of second degree murder. So these are just some examples to show
47:22
you
47:23
case by case how rapid DNA can really move fast for the law enforcement agency
47:30
to clear their cases and move on to another case and how it can also move
47:34
fast through our criminal justice system so that we can provide quick
47:38
resolution to cases and not have them stretch out as long as some other cases
47:45
can. So if you guys have any questions we're open for questions now here is my
47:51
contact information feel free to contact me with any questions that you may
47:57
have
47:57
but right now we'll open it up for questions here. Thank you. Fantastic
48:02
thank you Anna for all that great information and insight. Audience it is
48:06
now time for the Q&A portion of our webinar we see a lot of questions already
48:10
but if you have not already take just a minute now to type a question into the
48:15
panel for Anna but with that we're going to start with our first question. So
48:21
Anna
48:21
in nine sexual violence cases how does your laboratory pre-determined if there
48:27
is likely to be DNA mixture or not? So those type of cases are few and far in
48:34
between but we'll just look at the facts of the case say there's a stain on
48:39
like
48:39
a bed sheet or something where we would expect a lot of victim DNA as well and
48:44
it wasn't part of a sexual assault kit then we might not run that but that does
48:49
not happen very often. Okay and who is responsible for determining at the
48:56
scene if there is sufficient sample to split? What's their training their
49:01
background to make this determination? So at the scene it would be the
49:06
responding
49:08
either detective, officer or CSI that will determine if there is a
49:14
rapid eligible sample. So we go out and train all the agencies we go out on our
49:21
recurring basis. There's over 30 agencies in Orange County so depending on the
49:27
agency they'll do stuff differently but they're the ones that will at the scene
49:31
determine if something's rapid eligible or if they think it is if they have any
49:35
questions they'll call us for any help as well. Gotcha okay. Now you indicated
49:43
during the presentation that you return the used sample to law enforcement. Are
49:48
tested samples retestable? Yes actually we found that there is DNA remaining on
49:56
the samples after they've been rapid tested especially since we do limit our
50:01
samples to high quantity DNA samples so blood swab, cigarette, we've retest
50:07
them
50:07
with either traditional testing or rapid testing and we have found that we
50:11
still
50:11
get usable profiles. Okay that's really interesting.
50:17
More about your lab. Does Orange County have a backlog and if so how does the
50:23
crime lab incorporate the increased priority of rapid samples into their
50:28
day-to-day processing? So there is a backlog at our Orange County crime lab for
50:35
property crimes but we only request expedited testing if there was a hit on
50:42
the rapid tested sample so if it was rapid tested and we did not have a hit it
50:46
'll go through the normal crime lab processing and it wouldn't be expedited
50:50
so the number of cases that we have a hit to it has it doesn't it's maybe a one
50:59
week or something like that so it doesn't affect the crime lab and pushing
51:02
back the current caseload and we haven't heard anything from them as well
51:10
because
51:10
we work collaboratively with them so if there was an issue we would know. Of
51:16
course. What is the minimum quantity of DNA that goes through the rapid hit 200
51:24
So there's no quant step in the rapid but through our validation and testing.
51:30
We
51:30
typically want around 10 to 15 nanograms for a full profile but we can get
51:36
profiles off of less or a partial profile that can be used so that's about what
51:41
we aim for at least. Okay now are you using the rapid hit 200 for high volume
51:48
crime cases? So when they say high volume I'm thinking property crimes is that
51:57
correct?
51:58
Yes. So yes we do do with so if it's a serious and violent like crimes against
52:04
persons that is run right away however if it is a property crime we will wait
52:11
until we have a full run of samples and then run that so yes we do do it on a
52:16
high volume. Okay can you just detail for us again you know how the rapid hit
52:22
200
52:23
was validated in your lab? So it wasn't validated by our lab it was validated
52:29
at
52:29
the DA's office by myself. So we followed SWIDDAM guidelines for
52:36
validation testing and did a full validation with like sensitivity studies
52:43
mixture studies case examples or case sample type. So we follow the
52:52
guidelines there if you want more information it was a long and very
52:56
detailed validation so if you want more information on validation testing I
53:00
emailed myself or called me. That's great yeah we had a lot of people you
53:05
know kind of asking about that. So do you actually train officers from other
53:09
counties? We do not go out and train officers from other counties however we
53:15
do offer assistance to other counties for major cases or missing persons or
53:23
unidentified human remains but we don't actively go out and train them however
53:30
if there is a case and we get called up we will work with them and talk to them
53:34
and make sure the case is suitable for what we can do. Great so if someone was
53:39
looking to understand your protocols and procedures and training materials
53:42
would they be able to submit a request for you know your documentation or your
53:47
help? Yeah sure you can email me or call me and I can help you out with that
53:53
and we can help you with getting some protocols and all the different
53:57
documents we have available to you. That's awesome and we definitely have
54:02
lots of questions about that so audience follow up with Anna she's awesome.
54:07
All right so more questions that came through. Do the non-scientists that run
54:12
the rapid machine ever get called to testify in court? So our model is that by
54:19
the time the the case comes around to court the rapid the non-rapid portion of
54:28
the sample will be tested by the crime law so that there will be the ones
54:32
testifying on the stand and we've never had a case where they've asked for the
54:39
rapid DNA for us to prevent rapid DNA in court or into testify yet. Gotcha okay
54:47
Now the local database you know that you search again does that maintain by the
54:52
DA office or is it part of the crime laboratory? Yes it's maintained by the
54:58
DA's office so it's maintained by myself and so we have a whole other program
55:06
for
55:06
our local DNA database with protocols and procedures and collections in place
55:11
so
55:11
that is a whole separate thing that we do here as well is our DNA database
55:15
program. So how many low C are tested in rapid DNA profiling and how many are
55:22
needed to be detected in the sample before it can be interpreted and searched
55:26
against that database? So the rapid hit 200 does global filers so 21 autosomal
55:35
loci and for our database here at the DA's office I need at least seven
55:42
identifier loci to be able to search against the database. Okay I know we'll
55:49
we'll a forensic scientist like yourself look at every rapid DNA test before it
55:54
's
55:54
checked against the database or is this kind of limited to cases where the
55:59
machine may flag issues? Yes every single run is looked over by a forensic
56:05
scientist because we have controls as well that we check and we look at every
56:12
single profile that's developed by the rapid hit because we even when it has a
56:20
check mark we can see other issues that a non-scientist will not be able to see
56:25
so yes every single run is looked over by a forensic scientist.
56:31
Any questions? Have you seen any discrepancies between your results on
56:36
SWAP B and what the crime lab SWAP A would be? We don't see discrepancies other
56:44
than that our crime lab might get more low-sized than us because we have less
56:49
sensitivity so they might get a better profile than us as in more low-sized but
56:54
we have done a concordance study and through our validation and after the
57:00
validation as well so we do see that our results are concordance with what the
57:05
crime lab gets. In your practices that you developed with the corner do you
57:10
have
57:10
any data regarding specimens and success rates? Yes we do so that can be
57:19
something that you can contact me as well for there's a lot of different
57:22
types of specimens that we have tried with the corner and it depends on case
57:26
by case what it is but yes we have had good success with different types of
57:31
samples so I can talk to you them personally about that. Absolutely that
57:36
makes sense. Okay so in your experience what have you found to be the most
57:41
effective way of training officers to collect samples and run the rapid hit
57:46
instrument? So here there's different training for collecting and different
57:54
training for running the instrument. So we go out to trainer officers at the
58:01
different agencies in Orange County so those are the over 30 agencies that I
58:07
talked about earlier and you got to make sure you go out on a ongoing basis
58:13
even
58:13
if you just want a few months ago to the same agency and do your training
58:17
because there's a lot of turnover and new people and people get moved positions
58:22
from so they're no longer using rapid and then there's new people so that I've
58:28
found is you really have to go on a reoccurring basis and remind them about
58:34
what is eligible for rapid and then as far as running the instrument that is
58:38
done only by employees of the district attorney's office so that's done by
58:43
investigators and investigative assistants here and I have a whole
58:47
separate training program for that and that mirrors training at a crime lab so
58:53
there's observed testing they are do hands-on testing where forensic scientists
59:00
observe them there's competency testing there's proficiency testing so that is
59:04
very detailed training that we go through and document to make sure they can
59:10
run
59:11
the instrument on their own. A couple more lab management questions here if you
59:15
obtain a rapid hit does the crime lab only process the same samples the rapid
59:21
hit ran or do you expediate all samples in the case? So that's case by case but
59:28
yes they will run more samples than just what we have run on rapid but for
59:36
for purposes that specific rapid sample must be done or should be done.
59:43
And what is your schedule look like then to run the rush samples are you call
59:50
or
59:50
do you have set overnight hours? Yes we're on call so at any time it can be
59:59
called to come on in so there's there's no set schedule for that
01:00:04
whoever is available we have most what people trained in running the
01:00:09
instrument so whoever is available for that will come in and forensic
01:00:14
scientists will also come in and investigate. Now when you went through
01:00:19
the whole validation process was it reviewed by a third party? Yes it was we
01:00:26
had actually multiple third-party individuals review it from outside
01:00:32
educational institutions and outside scientists review it after validation
01:00:38
so yes we have had that. Now what would an individual you know voluntarily give
01:00:46
their DNA samples at the courthouse? So that is based on the type of crime and
01:00:56
that's typically done on misdemeanor crimes and so as part of their case
01:01:02
disposition they will also include giving a DNA sample and that's all looked
01:01:07
over
01:01:08
by judge their lawyer the prosecutor so it's that's that is our DNA database
01:01:15
program that's it's done with lots of many consent forms to make sure that they
01:01:21
are they understand what they're doing they understand what they're giving
01:01:25
their
01:01:25
DNA for and why so that it is voluntarily given and that is done all in the
01:01:32
courthouse. Okay did you also test the consensually collected reference
01:01:39
samples through rapid technology or is it a more traditional approach? No those
01:01:45
are not tested through rapid that is done by a private private DNA forensic
01:01:51
lab we are volume for that is way too high to be doing it with rapid DNA.
01:02:03
Okay and now do operators submit a report of their findings and if they do
01:02:10
how detailed is that support? So the report is done by forensic scientist so
01:02:18
it's detailed as in there's what type of samples were on what were the results
01:02:27
was there a hit was there not a hit and we report say there was no hit but
01:02:36
there
01:02:36
was a full profile there was partial profile there was no result so we get
01:02:42
detailed in there and that will be that is given to the law enforcement agency.
01:02:49
Okay now a few questions on the profile then if if no profile is obtained what
01:02:55
could be you know the main reason for that? Well it depends on the sample
01:03:04
sometimes we get samples that could be thought of blood we don't do any
01:03:09
preliminary testing or so it could be that it wasn't blood or there wasn't
01:03:16
enough to get a profile but you don't know how much is on there sometimes we
01:03:22
don't get a profile we get a very partial profile or sometimes we get a great
01:03:25
portfolio it's just sample the sample for those so it's just not not enough DNA
01:03:30
if we get no profile. Gotcha okay. Do you have a general profile success rate
01:03:36
you
01:03:36
know how many times both the crime lab and the rapid hit system created the
01:03:41
same
01:03:41
full profile? I do not have that specifically but for us around 75% of the
01:03:52
time that we run a sample we'll get a profile. Oh wow that's really high yeah
01:04:00
okay so I don't know what it is compared to the crime lab but not as ours. That
01:04:06
's
01:04:06
great often news okay for unidentified remains is there any type of sample
01:04:12
prepped you know from the more difficult sample such as bone that you would
01:04:16
need
01:04:16
to do before using the rapid instrument? We don't typically always do bone it
01:04:27
depends but no we don't do any extra steps we it's just a sample that goes in
01:04:33
there's no other extra I guess processing that goes into place before it gets
01:04:43
put
01:04:43
into the sample well in the instrument if we do get a bone we try to go in and
01:04:47
get like the inside marrow if possible but we don't do any additional
01:04:54
processing.
01:04:55
Okay and we have time for just a few more questions so we'll get to those
01:05:00
quickly. When you are giving your presentation you were talking about the
01:05:04
NEEEC semen sample was the NEEEC semen sample processed as a non-differential
01:05:09
extraction? So when it's a yes so when it's a NEEEC semen sample so those are
01:05:15
typically cases where suspect leaves a deposit somewhere we've had cases where
01:05:22
they leave it deposit DNA on its fence on a book so we believe that we know
01:05:28
that it's a single source so there is no differential extraction our rapid
01:05:33
instrument is actually able to get a full profile off of that without having to
01:05:38
do a differential where they split open the sperm heads or anything like that
01:05:42
and need extra chemical so the extractive on board the rapid instrument can
01:05:47
actually process the semen. Okay great what DNA database software does the
01:05:55
Orange County District Attorney Office use in the rapid program? So we have a
01:06:01
in-house system that we use so it's nothing that's like no name to it.
01:06:11
No branding. We have our own specific system that we use for our DNA database.
01:06:19
Perfect. All right last question and then we're gonna wrap this up just to make
01:06:26
sure are you using the rapid or a modified rapid analysis? So it would
01:06:33
qualify as modified because there is a forensic scientist reviewing all the
01:06:37
data so it is modified as in we don't just take what like the check marks that
01:06:45
are set on the rapid instrument and take it out for what it is. Every single
01:06:48
profile is reviewed by a forensic scientist before ever being searched
01:06:52
to do this. Right okay great. Unfortunately audience that's all the time we had
01:06:58
today but we do thank you for your absolutely great questions. We thank
01:07:02
Anna for her great insight and all the information that she's willing to share
01:07:06
now and in the future as she said. So before we end this program we're just
01:07:12
going to toss it over to Amy from Mindgen. Amy is going to share technique to
01:07:19
evoke relaxation in 10th moments which we've all used right now. Thank you
01:07:24
Michelle
01:07:24
and hi everybody I'm Amy Jay and I'll be transitioning this webinar into a
01:07:30
little bit over resilience training. If you joined us for May I started a
01:07:35
discussion about how to change our perception of stress at work and home.
01:07:40
And today we're going to be learning a couple of quick techniques to help us
01:07:45
rapidly slow down in the moment. The key to rapidly slowing down is introducing
01:07:55
pattern interrupt. You think about a pattern interrupt is something that
01:07:59
allows you to shift and change in the moments. Larger pattern interrupts happen
01:08:04
all the time right. Natural places where it feels sort of like a new beginning
01:08:10
so
01:08:11
dawn and dust could be examples the changing of the seasons new moons and
01:08:15
full moons. This pandemic has been a large pattern interrupt in challenging
01:08:20
how we live and work and so are the protests that are going on they're
01:08:25
calling for large change. But we can learn how to access a change in every
01:08:31
single moment and learn how to transcend stress in the moments by
01:08:36
introducing a pattern interrupt. We all know what happens to us when we let
01:08:41
stress get the best of us right. This leads to anxiety and depression more
01:08:47
anger resentment it can all build up for disease and of course poor
01:08:52
communication. If we want to show up as our best selves even in the most
01:09:01
challenging times and in times of adversity we have to be able to learn how
01:09:05
to shift. We have to be able to learn how to pay attention to our minds and
01:09:09
body and work with the biofeedback that it is telling us so that we can become
01:09:14
grounded in the moment. We want to be able to act so that we don't see things
01:09:19
we
01:09:19
regret so much. We want to be able to act so we have creative solutions and don
01:09:25
't
01:09:25
feel like there is a brain fog that is clouding us from being able to show up
01:09:29
right. Being able to ground in the moment is really helpful in learning how to
01:09:34
be
01:09:35
open to different people's perspectives and of course it can just create a
01:09:40
better
01:09:40
sense of ease and calm and who doesn't want to feel that on most days.
01:09:46
Two quick techniques we're going to work with is the breath and body sensing.
01:09:54
Now breathing is so important because you can access this in any moment. You
01:09:59
can
01:09:59
do it by observing your breath and watching it flowing in and out of your
01:10:04
nose flowing in and out through the body. You can work with your breath through
01:10:08
counting. Sometimes counting the breath can add extra focus and concentration
01:10:13
especially if you're learning how to just build your awareness. You can also
01:10:18
work with your breath by trying to slow it down. When we slow down the breath
01:10:22
we
01:10:23
naturally send signals to the brain to tell it please release what you're doing
01:10:28
in these moments of stress and allow us to enter the stages for healing and
01:10:34
repair. On a research level just learning how to breathe and use breathing as a
01:10:42
pattern interrupts can allow you to access parts of your intellect better so
01:10:48
that
01:10:48
we are not bringing ourselves out from our habitual reactions that so easily
01:10:54
take
01:10:54
control. Learning to slow down and work with the breath can also help with
01:10:59
emotional stability so that we're not you know flying off the handle or having
01:11:07
our amygdala run the show which is where our fight and flight center comes from
01:11:11
is very emotionally controlled and emotionally triggered. So when we can
01:11:15
learn to work with other parts of our brain with better decision-making and
01:11:19
cognitive function we are more balanced with our emotions and our emotional
01:11:24
intelligence as well. And breathing can help with focus and concentration so
01:11:30
especially if you feel that you're all over the place your to-do list is too
01:11:33
long there's so much going on breathing can help you focus you know on a task
01:11:39
that you have at hand so that you can start checking off you know some of the
01:11:43
things you know even if it is just that I need to have better self care today.
01:11:50
Body sensing can be done in different ways but it is moving your awareness
01:11:55
throughout your entire body and you can do this by sending relaxation through
01:12:01
the body so relaxing the face relaxing the shoulders the neck and back. You can
01:12:06
also do this through purely sensing so just using your mind to shift between
01:12:10
different parts of your body. What this has shown through lots of different
01:12:15
research is that body sensing techniques really have a deep relaxation that
01:12:21
occurs because we are sort of a method an anti-flight or flight method it
01:12:27
regulates our nervous system so it puts us more in balance so that we can
01:12:32
control
01:12:33
the yings and the yangs that are happening throughout the day and we're
01:12:37
not as easily triggered by the different stresses that you know may cause us to
01:12:43
act in ways we don't want to. There's been a lot of research in showing that
01:12:48
how body sensing is performed actually changes the structures of our brain
01:12:53
so by using terms such as witnessing and accepting so as you go through the
01:12:59
body I witness and accept my face I witness and accept my chest I witness
01:13:04
and accept my hips you know that can be challenging but what the research has
01:13:09
shown is by witnessing and accepting we're actually building up a tolerance
01:13:13
to deal with adversity and stress a little bit better so things just don't tend
01:13:20
to
01:13:20
bother us as much because we are able to accept them. You know this is
01:13:25
important
01:13:25
for all the little small things that you may fly off the handle with on a daily
01:13:29
basis or things that have been bothering you for a
01:13:32
long time that you don't have any control over. Other terminology such as
01:13:40
bringing your awareness to a place or as you body sense you relax so I'm
01:13:46
relaxing my face I'm relaxing my chest I'm relaxing my legs. Using vocabulary
01:13:52
such as relaxation has actually shown to build up a triggering response so if
01:13:59
normally you have a stress trigger you automatically react it gives you some
01:14:05
moments of pause where you can actually take in the bigger picture
01:14:09
figure out how you want to respond and choose a new course of action.
01:14:15
So even in the terminology research is showing that it has different effects
01:14:19
on the brain and of course it only makes sense that when you enter a deep state
01:14:23
of relaxation it allows your body and your tissues to heal and repair.
01:14:29
You know this naturally would occur at nighttime when you're in a digest and
01:14:33
rest fees and other parts in the day where our body naturally tends to digest
01:14:37
and rest but if you're not sleeping while you have
01:14:40
interrupted sleep you can't fall asleep you're thinking about things
01:14:44
through the day that you you know can't control you're trying to problem solve
01:14:48
and your day is very stressful you're not giving your body time to do the
01:14:53
repair that it needs to do. So for the criminal justice professions
01:15:00
I have taken some of these techniques and brought them together called the
01:15:04
CSI method for stress reduction because I want you to be able to remember it.
01:15:09
Now it doesn't stand for the CSI that you're used to but it does stand for
01:15:14
being
01:15:14
able to count your breath, scan and sense the body
01:15:19
and interrupt the patterns of stress. So let's try this quickly together.
01:15:25
If you want you can close your eyes this will allow you to have better
01:15:29
awareness, reduce distractions, if you're not in a place you're not
01:15:33
comfortable doing that just feel free to keep a soft fuzzy
01:15:36
fuzzy gaze.
01:15:39
And bring your awareness to your breath. I would notice your breath coming in
01:15:46
and
01:15:47
out of your nose and if that is not comfortable for you today then notice
01:15:51
the breath coming in and out of your mouth.
01:15:55
And as you breathe in and breathe out watching the breath
01:16:02
and we're going to count different parts of the breath. The breath has
01:16:11
four phases, an inhalation, a pause, an exhalation and a pause. We're going to
01:16:17
work with three of them today. We're going to inhale to the count of four,
01:16:24
pause to the count of seven and exhale to the count of eight.
01:16:31
This allows us to really slow down the breath and introduce
01:16:35
a pattern interrupt. If those links are uncomfortable for you just do what you
01:16:40
can today. Taking a long slow deep breath in, two, three, four, pause, two,
01:16:52
three,
01:16:54
four, five, six, seven and a long slow deep
01:17:02
exhalation, four, five, six, seven, eight.
01:17:13
And now scan and sense your body starting with your head.
01:17:19
Bringing awareness to your face and your eyes, the area between your eyes.
01:17:25
Bringing awareness to the mouth and jaw,
01:17:29
the neck, the shoulders, the upper back and lower back.
01:17:34
Your chest and abdomen,
01:17:38
both arms, both hands and fingers,
01:17:44
your hips, both legs.
01:17:49
Shift your awareness to both knees, your lower legs,
01:17:56
your ankles and feet.
01:17:59
And now as you scan the body, if there is a place you're holding on to tension,
01:18:07
shift your awareness there.
01:18:10
Send your breath to this area to further add an interruption
01:18:15
of the stress pattern that it's occurring.
01:18:18
There is some type of tension or issue that is being held onto.
01:18:22
You could choose today to send your breath and relax that area,
01:18:26
or you could choose today to send your breath and witness and accept.
01:18:32
Now this technique can be done in just a matter of seconds,
01:18:38
especially when you're doing it with your mind.
01:18:40
It can be done in any moments, in any place.
01:18:43
Just remember to work with counting your breath, scanning and sensing the body,
01:18:50
and that just one or both of those techniques together
01:18:53
are allowing you to just take a moment to assess what is going on,
01:18:57
become grounded and rapidly slow down.
01:19:00
This technique is available for download.
01:19:04
If you haven't seen it already, you can download the worksheet
01:19:08
and it'll take you through how to do this technique in case you want to
01:19:12
practice working with it.
01:19:13
I would work with this anytime that you know that you might be triggered.
01:19:18
So before you're going into a meeting that might seem stressful,
01:19:21
before you pick up the phone when you're working, if you are going to a crime
01:19:27
scene,
01:19:27
if you're about to testify in court, if the world is just feeling a little bit
01:19:33
heavy,
01:19:34
you could wake up and do this technique or before you go to sleep, do this
01:19:37
technique.
01:19:38
We'll continue this discussion over the next few months.
01:19:44
I'll join you next in August where we'll talk about generalization of facts or
01:19:49
techniques that
01:19:50
can be used outside of stressful moments in order to build up our tolerance a
01:19:55
little bit better.
01:19:56
Really, it's giving us more resiliency to handle adversity.
01:19:59
In September, we'll talk about the science behind gratitude and how that can
01:20:05
change our
01:20:05
perceptions of stress. And then in October, I will use the time to take you
01:20:11
through a technique
01:20:12
that will relax you down to the cellular level.
01:20:14
I would love to stay connected with you, especially enjoy getting feedback on
01:20:21
what's working and
01:20:22
what's not working. If you liked some of these rapidly slowing down techniques,
01:20:27
I have more on
01:20:28
my website, mindgenLC.com. Download Instant Calm. This has five other rough
01:20:35
techniques that you can
01:20:35
use at your desk, in the lab, or on the go. And I will turn it back over to
01:20:42
Michelle to transition
01:20:45
the end of this webinar. And thank you for having me today.
01:20:48
All right, audience, that about wraps up all the time we have for today. I'd
01:20:53
like to thank
01:20:53
Thermo Fisher Scientific for sponsoring this webinar, our speakers and an Amy,
01:20:58
and of course,
01:20:59
you, the audience for your attendance and participation.
01:21:02
Shortly, you will receive an email with information on how to obtain CE credit
01:21:06
documentation for
01:21:07
your participation. The third webinar in the six part Future Trends in Forensic
01:21:12
DNA Technology
01:21:13
will be held on July 16 at 8am Pacific 11am Eastern. You can register for
01:21:19
finding the right
01:21:20
tool for the job, CE tools that improve efficiency and save time on the
01:21:24
forensic website, www.ferenzichmag.com,
01:21:28
where you can also view other webinars in this series on demand. Thank you and
01:21:32
have a wonderful day.
01:21:34
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