The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized the sheriff’s office to spend roughly $97,000 to purchase the RapidHIT ID System. That’s about half the price scientific product company Thermo Fisher typically charges, according to a staff report that describes the technology as “revolutionary.”
“The ability of the (forensic services division) to impact overall field and investigative operations with the advent of Rapid DNA cannot be underestimated,” the report states. “As the (district attorney’s) office continues to push for more and more ‘Rush’ requests in order to hold detainees over for charging purposes, the need for timely results is critical.”
The report notes that the county forensic team’s role “has evolved to include not just routine biological examination and DNA analysis but real-time results and investigative leads based on rush requests and dangers to the community.”
Rapid DNA technology has shortened the test time from weeks to about 90 minutes by inserting a swab of DNA into a cartridge and putting that into a machine for analysis.
“It’s a technology that can’t be used across all types of samples, but certain samples will work,” said former county crime lab director Paul Holes, a retired District Attorney inspector known for his work on the Golden State Killer case. “If those samples are entered into CODIS there can be turnaround in an hour or so…It can save countless numbers of man hours from an investigative side.”
In the past, law enforcement agencies had to send DNA samples to government labs and wait for them to get tested, which could take days or even weeks. A federal bill passed in 2017 allows law enforcement agencies to use the rapid DNA technology to perform real-time DNA testing at their booking stations immediately following arrests. Those samples are compared to profiles in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) under guidelines set by the FBI.
But the technology — and the bill that allows for its expanded use — has alarmed privacy and civil liberties advocates because the expanded national database includes DNA samples of those who are arrested but never convicted of a crime.
Civil liberties groups last December sued the state Department of Justice over its collection and retention of DNA profiles of people who were arrested for alleged felonies but not convicted. In California, the DNA entry for innocent people is not automatically removed.
Proponents counter that the technology performs a social good by exonerating the truly innocent faster and keeping in jail crime suspects who otherwise might be released while awaiting DNA results. The Orange County District Attorney’s office, for instance, has used the technology to build up a “very successful” database, Holes said.
Former police investigators say there used to be a backlog of untested DNA evidence in Contra Costa, including for homicide cases. Last July, a report by the Bay Area New Group found that key DNA evidence sat on the shelf awaiting testing for years in three cold case homicides before a suspect was identified.
The technology also has been used to identify victims of the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County and trace familial connections for refugees seeking asylum in the United States.
©2019 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
