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TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
COSTAG. ..i.e�fr• .t:. says
^� ;• ,fi COUNTY
FROM: John Cullen, County Administrator
DATE: April 2007
SUBJECT: Grand Jury Report No. 0704— "County Crime Lab: High Quality Test Results,
Chronically Delayed"
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION(S):
RECEIVE the Grand Jury Report No. 0704 entitled "County Crime Lab: High Quality Test Results,
Chronically Delayed" and REFER it to the County Administrator for response.
R
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RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF OARD COM I EE APPR E OTHER
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ACTION OF BOARD ON /�M l 3 . APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED_X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
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UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
Contact:Sara Hoffman,CAO
.ATTESTED
JOHN CUL EN,CLERK O
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
cc: CAO
BY &jA 0 DEPUTY
A REPORT BY
THE 2006-2007 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY GRAND JURY
725 Court Street
Martinez, CA 94553
REPORT NO. 0704
COUNTY CRIME LAB: HIGH QUALITY TEST RESULTS,
CHRONICALLY DELAYED
March 13, 2007
APPROVED BY THE GRAND JURY:
Date: 3113
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OLGA J NE
GRAND JUf/
FOREPERSON
ACCEPTED FOR FILING:
Dater d7
TE NCE BRUINIERS, PRESIDING
JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT
Contact: Olga Jones
Foreperson
(925) 957-5879
COUNTY CRIME LAB: HIGH QUALITY TEST RESULTS,
CHRONICALLY DELAYED
Severe Understaffing Compromises County Lab's Criminalistics Section
Performance
SUMMARY
Sophisticated scientific tools like DNA, firearms, and trace material testing are important
to solving crimes in Contra Costa County. However, while local law enforcement
agencies increasingly look toward Martinez for assistance in solving crimes, the County
Forensics & Crime Laboratory's Criminalistics Section struggles to meet the growing
demand for their specialized services.
County crime lab records confirm that DNA, firearms, and trace material test requests
routinely require 6-12 months for a response. Many requests take as long as 24 months
and several are languishing in the lab's bulging case backlog more than three years after
they were :first submitted.
The quality of the tests performed by the lab's nationally acclaimed Criminalistics
Section is not in question, but rather its chronic inability to respond in a timely mailer to
the many requests for the testing services they have contracted to provide local police
agencies.
Despite the fact that the county's population has grown from 656,000 in 1980 to more
than 1.1 million today, the County Forensics Lab's Criminalistics Section has the same
11 authorized criminalists positions it had in 1980. And, only 10 of those 11 positions
are currently budgeted. Four of the 10 criminalists are dedicated to the growing number
of DNA cases. By comparison,.the city of San Diego's police department has assigned
13 of its 26 laboratory criminalists to handle DNA test requests generated by a similarly
sized population.
The long-standing shortage of criminalists, and the resulting testing delays, place an
added burden on local police agency crime investigators who are trying to quickly
develop leads, solve crimes, apprehend suspects, and'prevent new offenses.
The complete report is available on the Contra Costa County Grand Jury web site:
www.cc-courts.org/,grandjur
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY GRAND► JURY REPORT 0704
COUNTY CRIME LAB-HIGH QUALITY TEST RESULTS,
CHRONICALLY DELAYED
Severe Understaffing Compromises County Lab's Criminalistics Section
Performance
One or more Grand Jurors recused themselves due to a possible conflict of interest and
did not,participate in the preparation or approval of this report.
TO: Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
Office of the Sheriff, Contra Costa County
BACKGROUND
The Office of the Sheriff ("Sheriff") for Contra Costa County ("County") is responsible
for operating and managing the County's Forensics and Crime Laboratory ("Lab"). The
Lab provides a variety of scientific laboratory and crime scene investigation services to
the Sheriff's Office, and under contract, to city police agencies in Contra Costa County,
the Solano County District Attorney, the city of Vallejo, and recently Oakland.
Of the Lab's total staff of 72, 10 serve as criminalists in the Crimifialistics Section,
trained scientists who perform tests on evidence gathered in the course of criminal
investigations. Criminalists perform tests on a variety of samples. In the past several
years, many more of these tests have included routine deoxyribonucleic acid ("DNA")
screening as that science has become increasingly sophisticated. Criminalists also test
thousands of firearms each year that have been submitted by local investigative agencies.
DNA and firearm test results are also added to the FBI's two major national databases.
Lab test results serve as a good, sometimes the only, source of leads for local law
enforcement investigators, and they often help solve crimes. In turn, evidence secured
during investigations, and any associated scientific test results and analysis, often play an
equally important role in the judicial prosecution and conviction of criminal defendants.'
The Lab's mission statement includes a timeliness element, yet the performance in this
regard varies dramatically. While alcohol, drug, and toxicology tests completed by a
different Lab section are performed in a timely manner, the Criminalistics Section's
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performance has fallen short of contracting police agency, and indeed the Lab
management's, expectations for decades.
The primary reason for the chronic lack of Criminalistics Section timeliness is that the
number of scientifically trained criminalists and crime scene investigators has not
increased in more than 25 years. Over the same period, the County has seen steady
population growth as well as an increase in demand by law enforcement and the judicial
system for sophisticated crime testing and,analysis.
Today, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys,judges, and jurors place growing
importance on DNA, firearms, and trace material evidence. That's why chronic delays, in
some cases years, by the Lab's Criminalistics Section in completing high-quality
scientific testing, represent a serious problem.
FINDINGS
1. The Contra Costa County Forensics and Crime Laboratory is a division of the
Office of the Sheriff.
1 The Lab has a total staff of 72, a combination of scientific, technical, support, and
administrative personnel. The Lab staff is assigned to four functional areas: Drug,
Alcohol & Toxicology Section, Criminalistics Section, Central Identification
Services (fingerprinting), and Property &Evidence Services.
3. The Lab maintains accreditation from the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors, Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD-LAB). The Lab is one of
several county crime laboratories in the nation that has earned such recognition.
ASCLD-LAB standards do not include a criterion for test turnaround timeliness.
4. The Lab provides forensic testing and consultation services (scientific analysis of
crime scene physical evidence) to the Sheriffs Office, as well as to local police
agencies, the Solano County District Attorney, Vallejo, and recently Oakland, on
a contracted, fee-for-service basis. Oakland's services are limited to selected
fingerprint testing.
5. The Lab is one of only four county crime labs in the state of California that charge
contracting agencies fees for their services; Alameda, Santa Clara, and
Sacramento are the other three.
6. Based on fiscal year 2005-2006 data, forensic testing and consultation fees
charged by the Lab to contracting police agencies generated $1.8 million. That
represented approximately 25% of the Lab's $7.2 million total cost of providing
the services. The percentage of the service cost covered by fees charged to police
agencies ranges from a low of 19% for selected-Criminalistic Section tests to a
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high of 76% for selected tests completed by the Drug, Alcohol & .Toxicology
Section. Following are program cost and client fee recovery percentage details:
Program Cost and Percent of Cost Recovery From Client Fees
Fiscal Year 2005-2006
Program Total Cost Percent of Cost Recovery
Criminalistics $2.79 million 19%
Latents $320,000* 37%
Livescan $120,000* 47%**
Identification $533,000* 15%***
CAL-ID $1.45 million 47%
Alcohol $607,000 76%
Drugs $900,000 67%
Toxicology $523,000 54%
*Lab estimates
"Non-police clients; e.g.,job applicants
***Custody Alternative Program"client" and Martinez Detention Center
detainee fingerprint screening
Program Descriptions
Criminalistics--Firearms, DNA, Trace Evidence, Crime Scene Investigation
Latents—Fingerprint evidence from crime scenes
Livescan—Electronic fingerprinting of job, license, and permit applications
Identification—Identification of subjects booked at the Martinez Detention
Center by the Office of the Sheriff
CAL-ID—Identification of subjects booked at the Martinez Detention Center by
local police departments; Crime scene fingerprint evidence from local
police departments
Alcohol—Blood and breath alcohol analysis
Drugs—Solid dosage(sample) drug analysis
Toxicology—Ante mortem (before death) and postmortem (after death) drug and
body fluid analysis
NOTE: The Lab generated additional revenue from other sources, such as fines,
asset seizures and state-mandated fees. Together, revenues from other sources
($2.3 million), and fees charged to local police agencies ($1.8 million), offset
approximately 57% ($4.1 million) of the Lab's $7.2 million cost of providing
forensic services.
7. The Lab's published mission statement reads: "Provide a high level of timely
(emphasis added), thorough, accurate, and objective evidence analysis,
consultation, and crime scene processing services."
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8. The Lab's Drug, Alcohol & Toxicology Section, located at Muir Road in
Martinez, regularly reports testing turnaround times that do not vary widely from
those of other crime labs around the state and across the country. This section's
reported turnaround times are accurate because they do not carry a significant
backlog of test requests.
9, The Lab's Criminalistics Section, located at Escobar Road in Martinez, also
reports turnaround times that do not vary widely from those reported by other
labs. However, in this case the information is inaccurate and misleading because
this section consistently carries a significant backlog of test requests,
10. The Criminalistics Section reports the average length of time between receiving
test requests and completion. The turnaround time calculations do not include
any "backlogged" or "aging" test requests; i.e., cases where testing is either
incomplete or has not yet begun.
11. Contracting police agencies routinely follow a procedure encouraged by the
Criminalistics Section management to expedite cases of special interest. They
call management directly to request special consideration of selected cases.
Management responds as often as it can by directing criminalists to set aside other
test requests in the work queue to complete the special requests.
12. Local police agencies report a consistently high level of confidence in the quality
of Lab test results. However, they also report long-standing dissatisfaction and
frustration with testing turnaround times, especially those , involving the
Criminalistics Section. Local police agencies report they are using, or are
considering using, alternative testing facilities such as the FBI or private labs on a
selective basis.
13. The Criminalistic Section's Biology, Firearms and Trace backlog data reflects test
requests dating back more than three years. Further, the Criminalistics, Section
reports an estimated 2500-3000 firearms that have not even been catalogued, and
are yet to be added to the formal backlog count.
14. The Lab's Criminalistics Section is organized into four functional sub-units based
on the types of services each provides; i.e., Biology (DNA, liquid blood, sexual
assault, and miscellaneous biology screening), Firearms (identification and
testing), Trace & Impressions (fabrics, paint, hair, and arson), and Crime Scene
Investigation.
15. The Criminalistics Section staff includes 11 approved criminalist positions for all
three sub-units, as well as two crime scene investigators. However, one of the
approved criminalist positions currently is unfunded due to budgetary constraints.
In 1980, the Lab had the same number of approved criminalists as it does today.
At that time, criminalists had a broader range of testing responsibilities, including
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drug, alcohol and toxicology. In 1980, DNA testing procedures did not exist.
Today, four of the 10 budgeted criminalists are assigned to DNA testing.
16. By comparison the city of San Diego police department's crime I lab has a
complement of 26 criminalists, 13 of which are assigned to DNA testing. The
city of San Diego's population is similar in size to Contra Costa County.
17. Since 1980, Contra Costa County's population has increased from approximately
656,000 to more than 1.1 million.
18. The Lab makes use of a 40-year old functional model that requires criminalists to
divide their time between performing laboratory-based scientific tests and
conducting crime scene investigations. Statistics for 2005 show that 36% of total
criminalists'. work hours were devoted to crime scene investigations.
19. The County requires scientifically trained criminalists to be sworn peace officers;
i.e., County Deputy Sheriffs. Contra Costa is the last county in the state with the
sworn officer requirement. The next to last, San Bernardino County, eliminated
the requirement 20 years ago.
20. The County received applications from only two qualified, experienced
candidates for the vacant Deputy Sheri ff-Criminalists positions during the 2005
recruitment effort, due in part to the sworn officer requirement.
21. Few of the local police agencies the Lab's Criminalistics Section serves have their
own dedicated Crime Scene Investigation ("CSI") units. Instead, they rely on the
Criminalistics Section to provide such support, reportedly in some cases, coverage
for simply unavailable, ill or vacationing investigators in some local police
departments.
22. By comparison to the Lab's newer and larger Muir Road facility, the available
space for the Criminalistics Section's staff at the Escobar Road location is
outdated and inadequate from a square footage standpoint to meet current staff,
testing, and storage requirements, let alone future, needs if it were appropriately
staffed.
23. The County's Office of the District Attorney ("DA") points to a consistently high
level of test quality and Lab staff professionalism, The DA is unaware of any
instances when his office was not able to expedite Lab testing if necessary for a
felony case that finally went to trial.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The County's Forensics and Crime Laboratory enjoys a well-deserved reputation
for providing a consistently high level of testing quality and staff professionalism.
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However, the Lab, and especially its Criminalistics Section, suffers from a long-
standing inability to meet the testing turnaround time expectations of its many
police agency clients.
2. The fact that the Lab continues to operate using a 40-year old management model,
combined with an approved criminalist complement that remains at a 1980 level,
places a significant burden on the staff to meet the ever-increasing expectations of
the Lab's many police agency clients. The continuing requirement that
criminalists divide their time between lab-based scientific testing and crime scene
investigation duties is an increasingly inefficient use of their time.
3. Raised expectations place an ever-increasing burden on the Criminalistics
Section's Biology, Firearms, and Trace sub-units, to deliver both consistently
high quality and timely test results. DNA testing and analysis in particular is a
sophisticated and rapidly changing scientific discipline that requires a staff of
thoroughly trained and dedicated scientists large enough to serve the growing
needs of the County.
4. Police agency investigators are frustrated with the length of time it takes to obtain
Biology, Firearms and Trace test results. They point to the fact that chronic
delays make it difficult to develop leads that help solve active cases. Investigators
also complain that their ability to work so-called "cold cases" is severely
compromised since it's unlikely that the Criminalistics Section will be able to
work considerably older cases when they are struggling to keep up with daily
incoming test requests.
5. The inability to develop investigative leads and solve crimes using scientific test
results not only frustrates police investigators, but crime victims and family
members alike. investigators also point out that their inability to quickly identify
and apprehend crime suspects increases the chances they may re-offend.
6. The inability of the Criminalistics Section to consistently respond in a timely
manner inhibits the Lab's ability to charge user fees that, when combined with
other sources of revenue, more closely approximate the cost of providing services.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The Sheriff should seek approval to increase the number of authorized and
budgeted criminalists in the Lab from the current 1980 level of 11, to between 20
and 24, to be assigned as required in the Criminalistic Section's Biology,
Firearms, and Trace & Impression sub-units.
2. The Sheriff should expedite the anticipated elimination of the requirement that
new criminalists must also be sworn peace officers.
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3. The Sheriff should eliminate the requirement that staff criminalists divide their
time between scientific, laboratory-based testing and crime scene investigation.
4. The Sheriff should work with those contracting police agencies without their own
CSI units to help them transition to their own units to support local investigators.
5. The Sheriff should secure adequate and up-to-date workspace to accommodate
not only the Lab's existing Criminalistics.Section staff but also the recommended
increase in staff members.
6. The Lab should expand its turnaround time reports to include all backlog data to
more accurately and completely report "aging'.'test requests.
7. Once the Lab improves its overall test turnaround time performance levels, it
should take the opportunity to increase its fees so that local police agency contract
income, when combined with other sources of revenue, more closely
approximates the cost of providing all forensic services.
REQUIRED RESPONSES
Findings:
Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff. 1-23
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors: 1-23
Recommendations:
Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff. 1-7
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors: 1-7
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