(re-posted here without permission)
The Orange County Board of Supervisors gave District Attorney Tony Rackauckas another $1.38 million to pay for his DNA collection program Tuesday, despite the fact that many of the samples are useless to state and federal authorities.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department runs its own DNA laboratory, which coordinates with state and federal labs.
It is the third request this year for more money for the program, which asks low-level suspects to cough up DNA samples in exchange for dismissing drug and misdemeanor charges. Once their DNA is in the “bank,” so to speak, it’s easier to catch them if they commit more serious crimes.
The program has nearly 40,000 DNA samples. Rackaukas promised supervisors the money will help clear up a current backlog of samples waiting to be processed, and could potentially solve unsolved crimes and prevent future ones.
Rackauckas’ effort to build his much-heralded DNA database saves prosecution costs for low-level criminals, he said. Critics have cried foul over letting suspected criminals go free without prosecution, and returning drug users to the streets.
The program, formally known as the “DNA Collection and Crime Deterrence Program,” has matched 18 suspects to DNA samples collected since its inception, including two brothers arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman whose body was doused in gasoline and set on fire in Irvine in September 2009.
Fingernail scrapings matched a DNA sample taken by the District Attorney’s Office a few months prior in connection with a domestic violence misdemeanor, Rackauckas said. The pair is awaiting trial.
The county paid $425,000 for the program in 2009. A total of 15,285 DNA samples were collected that year. A total of 19,889 samples were collected in 2010.
The board approved increases in March and October for a total of $984,500 to deal with backlog issues, according to a county staff report.
Janet Nguyen, chair of the county Board of Supervisors, and fellow Supervisor Pat Bates, hounded Rackauckas with questions about why the costs continue to grow in leaps in bounds while the number of samples being taken and analyzed is growing in modestly.
An estimated 2,000 DNA samples a month are expected to be collected next year, Rackauckas told the board Tuesday. That increase coupled with the program’s current backlog of 4,000 samples means the program needs more money to get ahead and stay ahead.
The current backlog will be eliminated in about a month, Rackauckas said.
The program saves money for the District Attorney’s Office, Rackauckas said, but it also saves money for the Public Defender and local law enforcement agencies since fewer cases make it to trial.
Most of DNA samples taken by the District Attorney’s Office are worthless to federal and state law enforcement agencies because the samples don’t meet their standards or they are barred from using DNA samples taken from suspects whose cases were dismissed.
Still, Rackauckas argued the program has reduced recidivism.
“People know we have their DNA,” Rackauckas said. “We are more likely to catch them because we have their DNA. It think the citizens are not less safe, but safer.”
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Commentary by the Fullerton Sentinel
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| The Fullerton Sentinel |
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will certainly go down in county history as one of the worst DA's ever. He has consistently ignored political corruption at all levels of government, especially within his own office.
The Fullerton Sentinel looks forward to the 2014 election when OC voters will be able to replace the inept DA.
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