Roger Bagu
Fri, Dec-22-06, 17:16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/-
20/AR2006122001797.html?nav=rss_technology/washtech Felons'
DNA Missing From Va. Database Uncollected Samples May Number
in Thousands
By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday,
December 21, 2006; Page A01
Virginia authorities have launched a massive review of the
state's DNA database after discovering that thousands of
felons may have skirted a legal requirement to submit genetic
samples, partly because local and state agencies may have
failed to make them do so.
Public safety and crime lab officials estimate that at least
20 percent of felons' DNA profiles could be missing from the
database, a flaw that could hamper criminal investigations
across the state and nation. Investigators routinely take
crime scene evidence and run it through Virginia's database
and others looking for DNA matches.
"The good news is it appears that we have well over 80 percent
of convicted felons in the database, but obviously we need to
have 100 percent of them in the database," said Clyde
Cristman, deputy secretary of the Virginia Department of
Public Safety.
Virginia law requires all convicted felons and those arrested
in connection with violent crimes such as rape or homicide to
submit cheek swabs for DNA analysis and entry into the
statewide database. Currently, there are more than 253,000
samples in the database, according to the Department of
Forensic Science Web site.
The Public Safety Department is working with the departments
of Corrections, Forensic Science and Juvenile Justice to
determine how many offenders' profiles are missing and why.
The multi-agency review will begin with a check of about
54,000 people on probation or parole to verify that their
samples have been processed.
Cristman said that about 12,000 cases have been examined. He
could not say how many of those offenders' samples were
missing from the data bank but said the number is in the
thousands. It could take about two months to complete the
review and update the data.
Long considered a national leader in DNA crime technology,
Virginia has logged about 3,600 "cold hits" from its database
-- matching biological evidence from a crime scene to an
offender's DNA profile. Scores of violent crimes, including
some homicides, have been solved that way. Virginia's
database, like that of other states, forms part of a larger
national DNA network that has similarly produced millions of
cold hits.
Gaps in the state database could diminish the effectiveness of
DNA as a crime-fighting tool, officials said. "In order to
maximize effectiveness of the national DNA database, it is
important to collect DNA samples from all persons authorized
by state and federal legislation," said Ann Todd, a
spokeswoman for the FBI crime lab.
Louisiana, which has some of the nation's broadest DNA
collection laws, has become the envy of many states for a
highly advanced and centralized computer system that allows
jails, courts and law enforcement agencies to track which
offenders have submitted DNA samples.
Cristman said his office was alerted to the problem several
weeks ago when an investigation into a series of rapes in
Charlottesville revealed that suspects with criminal
backgrounds were not listed in the database. Charlottesville
police Capt. J.E. "Chip" Harding discovered missing profiles
after an audit revealed that 125 felons -- or 20 percent of
the 600 supervised felons in Charlottesville and Albemarle
County -- were not in the database.
But Virginia crime lab director Paul Ferrara said this week
that he became aware of a possible problem earlier when a
review last year of the state's more than 13,000 registered
sex offenders uncovered 3,149 missing DNA profiles, or about
24 percent of the state registry.
"I'm not surprised that there are missing felons," Ferrara
said. "What would be surprising is the magnitude. That's the
thing we're not sure on."
Ferrara said some prisons and jails might have failed to take
samples from offenders when the requirement was introduced in
the 1990s because the importance of building a DNA database
was not yet understood. The collection process might have been
further complicated because until about 10 years ago, blood
samples were to be taken by qualified medical technicians, who
may not have been available, Ferrara said. But he and others
pointed to clerical errors as another likely reason for the
missing profiles.
"Sometimes you find they aren't missing, but it's just that if
you query the database and you don't have the right Social
Security number or right spelling on the name, you're not
going to hit it," Cristman said.
He said that training on how to collect samples may need
improvement and that the lack of a centralized state tracking
system made it difficult to coordinate processing. "It's been
a challenge in Virginia with various agencies working with
different computer systems that don't talk to each other,"
Cristman said.
Experts say the problem in Virginia is symptomatic of growing
gaps in DNA databases nationwide that have occurred as states
have expanded the pool of offenders required to submit
samples. Most states have long required DNA samples from
people convicted of such violent crimes as murder or rape. But
the increasing popularity of DNA as a crime-fighting tool has
prompted widespread passage of laws to include samples for
such lesser offenses as burglary. More recently some states --
including Virginia, California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas
-- have begun to require samples from those arrested for
certain crimes.
"Whenever you dump a tremendous increase in the samples to be
tracked and collected, there's more chances of things being
overlooked and things falling through the cracks," said Bill
Marbaker, president of the American Society of Crime
Laboratory Directors.
20/AR2006122001797.html?nav=rss_technology/washtech Felons'
DNA Missing From Va. Database Uncollected Samples May Number
in Thousands
By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday,
December 21, 2006; Page A01
Virginia authorities have launched a massive review of the
state's DNA database after discovering that thousands of
felons may have skirted a legal requirement to submit genetic
samples, partly because local and state agencies may have
failed to make them do so.
Public safety and crime lab officials estimate that at least
20 percent of felons' DNA profiles could be missing from the
database, a flaw that could hamper criminal investigations
across the state and nation. Investigators routinely take
crime scene evidence and run it through Virginia's database
and others looking for DNA matches.
"The good news is it appears that we have well over 80 percent
of convicted felons in the database, but obviously we need to
have 100 percent of them in the database," said Clyde
Cristman, deputy secretary of the Virginia Department of
Public Safety.
Virginia law requires all convicted felons and those arrested
in connection with violent crimes such as rape or homicide to
submit cheek swabs for DNA analysis and entry into the
statewide database. Currently, there are more than 253,000
samples in the database, according to the Department of
Forensic Science Web site.
The Public Safety Department is working with the departments
of Corrections, Forensic Science and Juvenile Justice to
determine how many offenders' profiles are missing and why.
The multi-agency review will begin with a check of about
54,000 people on probation or parole to verify that their
samples have been processed.
Cristman said that about 12,000 cases have been examined. He
could not say how many of those offenders' samples were
missing from the data bank but said the number is in the
thousands. It could take about two months to complete the
review and update the data.
Long considered a national leader in DNA crime technology,
Virginia has logged about 3,600 "cold hits" from its database
-- matching biological evidence from a crime scene to an
offender's DNA profile. Scores of violent crimes, including
some homicides, have been solved that way. Virginia's
database, like that of other states, forms part of a larger
national DNA network that has similarly produced millions of
cold hits.
Gaps in the state database could diminish the effectiveness of
DNA as a crime-fighting tool, officials said. "In order to
maximize effectiveness of the national DNA database, it is
important to collect DNA samples from all persons authorized
by state and federal legislation," said Ann Todd, a
spokeswoman for the FBI crime lab.
Louisiana, which has some of the nation's broadest DNA
collection laws, has become the envy of many states for a
highly advanced and centralized computer system that allows
jails, courts and law enforcement agencies to track which
offenders have submitted DNA samples.
Cristman said his office was alerted to the problem several
weeks ago when an investigation into a series of rapes in
Charlottesville revealed that suspects with criminal
backgrounds were not listed in the database. Charlottesville
police Capt. J.E. "Chip" Harding discovered missing profiles
after an audit revealed that 125 felons -- or 20 percent of
the 600 supervised felons in Charlottesville and Albemarle
County -- were not in the database.
But Virginia crime lab director Paul Ferrara said this week
that he became aware of a possible problem earlier when a
review last year of the state's more than 13,000 registered
sex offenders uncovered 3,149 missing DNA profiles, or about
24 percent of the state registry.
"I'm not surprised that there are missing felons," Ferrara
said. "What would be surprising is the magnitude. That's the
thing we're not sure on."
Ferrara said some prisons and jails might have failed to take
samples from offenders when the requirement was introduced in
the 1990s because the importance of building a DNA database
was not yet understood. The collection process might have been
further complicated because until about 10 years ago, blood
samples were to be taken by qualified medical technicians, who
may not have been available, Ferrara said. But he and others
pointed to clerical errors as another likely reason for the
missing profiles.
"Sometimes you find they aren't missing, but it's just that if
you query the database and you don't have the right Social
Security number or right spelling on the name, you're not
going to hit it," Cristman said.
He said that training on how to collect samples may need
improvement and that the lack of a centralized state tracking
system made it difficult to coordinate processing. "It's been
a challenge in Virginia with various agencies working with
different computer systems that don't talk to each other,"
Cristman said.
Experts say the problem in Virginia is symptomatic of growing
gaps in DNA databases nationwide that have occurred as states
have expanded the pool of offenders required to submit
samples. Most states have long required DNA samples from
people convicted of such violent crimes as murder or rape. But
the increasing popularity of DNA as a crime-fighting tool has
prompted widespread passage of laws to include samples for
such lesser offenses as burglary. More recently some states --
including Virginia, California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas
-- have begun to require samples from those arrested for
certain crimes.
"Whenever you dump a tremendous increase in the samples to be
tracked and collected, there's more chances of things being
overlooked and things falling through the cracks," said Bill
Marbaker, president of the American Society of Crime
Laboratory Directors.