I have posted details of all these on the events page – click here for more information.
Hope to see you there!
with thanks
Vanessa
Archive for the ‘Crime Scenes’ Category
Exciting DNA Forensic Events happening this week (22-25 Mar 2011)
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
There are a number of Forensic DNA Conferences and Seminars being held throughout South Africa this week (22-25 Mar 2011) which I will be attending, ranging from Victim Empowerment through the use of DNA to establishing a DNA Innocence Project in SA to unleashing the power of a criminal intelligence DNA database in SA. All of these seminars and events will be of value and interest to anyone involved in DNA forensics in SA .
Jack Mogale: Serial rapist and murderer, how did DNA evidence assist in getting him convicted?
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Jack Mogale: Serial rapist and murderer, how did DNA evidence assist in getting him convicted?
In a case where there were so many victims, especially rape victims, you would expect more DNA evidence. However, DNA evidence was only used to link Mogale to four of the victims, two of which were murdered. 
The one victim, a prostitute who was raped and murdered by Mogale, had a condom discovered nearby the body from which DNA evidence was collected which matched Mogale. Two of the other victims had vaginal and cervical swabs for DNA evidence taken matching Mogale as well. A fourth victim who was bludgeoned, raped and then left unconscious in the open veld for 24 hours had a vaginal swap at the hospital which produced DNA evidence matching Mogale.
He was found guilty on 52 of the 61 charges brought against him, these included 16 murders, 9 kidnappings, 2 thefts and 2 robberies with aggravating circumstances. 
When Mogale was being led down to the court cells, he is quoted as saying, “In life you face challenges and this is just one of them. I did not commit the crimes they say I committed. Even now, I still maintain my innocence”, but DNA evidence doesn’t lie.
For more of the full story please follow these links.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/03/17/serial-rapist-to-be-sentenced
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/West-End-killer-awaits-sentencing-20110316
New Rape Kits will help crack Rape Cases
Monday, March 14th, 2011
The forensic DNA laboratory of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has been researching and developing a forensic kit to identify male perpetrators in rape cases. We heard last week that this kit has now been fully developed and is available to Crime Labs to help crack rape cases, specially in those cases where a victim has been raped by more than one perpetrator. 
The UWC research team looked at local regions with high gene variability between individuals, and the kit they developed was thoroughly tested against South Africa’s different population groups. It had been proved that the kit would help increase the conviction rate in rape cases. The police currently use kits that analyse both female and male DNA but this can be confusing and cluttered. This kit will supplement those in use and will support circumstantial evidence.
The kit, developed under the leadership of Professor Sean Davidson together with Dr Eugenia dâ Amato, is similar to those made in America and Europe, but is more accurate with South Africa’s population groups, UWC’s An Wentzel said.
How does it work?
The test isolates information of the Y-chromosome — which is present only in males — and is able to narrow down suspects to the range of father, son or brother.
Why is it such a ‘breakthrough’?
Because father passes his Y-chromosome to his son, meaning that they have identical Y-chromosomes and therefore they would both be suspects based on Y-DNA evidence. Davidson said forensic pathologists could now pick up male DNA more easily in a rape case, and this made it more useful in identifying the rapist, with investigators able to narrow down the range of possible aggressors. “The technology is also good at excluding innocent men,” he said.
Davidson said the test takes “a matter of days”. However, it would not eliminate the time taken in the administration of DNA processing.
The findings and results have been welcomed by the international forensics community and has been hailed by UWC as a giant step forward for justice and rape victims in South Africa.
14 March 2011
‘Familial Searching’ – an explanation
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
“While the sins of the father should not be visited on the son, the sins of the son should not go unpunished because the sins of the father are ignored….”
We posted a poll on the website last week asking whether Familial DNA searching should be allowed in SA? [Familial Searching .i.e. a process by which an unidentified DNA profile is run through the state's DNA data-bank looking not for an exact match but for a close match that would identify a family member of an unidentified perpetrator and could point in the direction of potential suspects.]
Notwithstanding the fact that only 2 people have voted so far, it has caused quite a lot of debate on Facebook! As such, I though that I should use this opportunity to open the debate further, as Familial Searching for criminal intelligence as well as the identification of unidentified bodies is being used in more and more countries throughout the world. It is however not without controversy, and whilst in some cases has been used to identify a previously unknown suspect of a violent crime, it has sparked some debate. This is not to say that the information presented here represents the views of The DNA Project – I am simply going to try and present the facts as objectively as possible and hopefully receive some constructive comment on the subject from some of you who read this blog.
In those countries where Familial Searching is allowed, it is important to remember that searches are only conducted on the National DNA Databanks which hold the profiles of previously convicted offenders, crime scene profiles and arrestees who have not yet been convicted. Furthermore, a ‘hit’ when conducting a familial search, does not mean that that person is the suspect – it is simply an investigative lead which may lead the police to the actual suspect who committed the crime. A DNA Database for Criminal Intelligence is NOT a population database – in other words it is a database containing profiles of crime scene samples and convicted offenders & arrestees and not the general population. A familial search on a National DNA Database will therefore extend the size and reach of the DNA database to effectively include the parents, children and siblings of the offenders and arrestees whose DNA profiles are already stored in databases.
“Familial searching” is being used in some countries for efficient identification of possible crime suspects when traditional investigative efforts fail. Crime laboratories benefit from searching not just for perfect matches, but also for close ones, when trying to connect DNA from unsolved crimes to the DNA of known offenders whose DNA profiles are held in a national database. Because relatives share common DNA profiles, close matches can implicate family members as possible crime suspects.
As experience with familial searching increases, more and more countries will probably embrace the technique. And as they do, so does the need to create policies that will ensure both efficiency and accuracy in case selection, statistical thresholds and follow-up testing and investigation.
For those of you who would like to read more on the subject, the following report compiled by Sophie Rushton (July 2010) for the Australian & New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency looks at both the positive and negative aspect of Familial Searching and Predictive DNA Testing for Forensic Purposes: Report Familial Searching and Predictive DNA Testing 2010.
Case Solved – The Bloody Brick: Craig Harman
This was the first familial search in Great Britain in which the suspect was apprehended and convicted of the crime. In the early morning hours on March 21, 2003, Mr. Michael Little, a 53-year-old truck driver, was driving his truck on a highway in Surrey, when he drove beneath an overpass. A brick was thrown from the overpass and crashed through his windshield. It hit Mr. Little in his chest and caused fatal damage to the heart. Before Mr. Little died, he was able to bring his truck to a stop on the side of the road.
Law enforcement analyzed the blood on the brick and found two DNA profiles, one of Mr. Little and one of another unknown individual. That evening, before the brick was thrown from the overpass, a car had been burglarized in the same town. The burglar could not get the car started and he left his blood at the scene.
The police were able to extract a full DNA profile and it matched the DNA profile on the brick which killed Mr. Little. The profile was run through the DNA Database, but no match was found.
However, the DNA analysis established that the offender was caucasian. A police profiler looked at the details of the crime, and suggested that he was under the age of 35. Also, Surrey police believed the killer lived locally and so authorities performed a DNA dragnet screen involving 350 people from the surrounding area who volunteered to give samples. But still no match was found.
Law enforcement then decided to perform a familial search of white males under the age of 35 living in Surrey or Hampshire. Twenty five people with similar DNA were located including a relative of the suspect whose DNA matched 16 of 20 DNA markers. They interviewed the relative and discovered that he had a 19-year-old brother, Craig Harman, who lived where the crime had occurred. Harman gave his DNA voluntarily and confessed. In April, 2004, Craig Harman pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 6 years.
Case where Familial Searching was used in the USA: It was an unfinished slice of pizza that led to the identification of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. as the prime suspect in the Grim Sleeper murder investigation. But the pizza was just the final clue leading to his arrest. The key break in the investigation, intermittently conducted over 25 years, came when investigators found a close — but not perfect — match between the DNA recovered at multiple crime scenes and a man being held in a California prison. Such a near-match strongly indicated that the person wanted by police was a close relative of the man in prison, and police soon focused on the man’s father, Lonnie Franklin. They put him under surveillance, obtained his discarded pizza and found that his DNA matched that recovered at a Grim Sleeper crime scene.
Click here for more stories on cases solved by Familial Searching.
Vanessa
The best Valentine’s Day Invite
Friday, February 18th, 2011
A strange topic you may think? Especially, if like me, you are not a fan of Valentine’s Day and all that it encompasses. However, having just landed in Cape Town from a trip to JHB last week, I received a call from General Phahlane, the Divisional Commissioner of the Forensic Lab, requesting that I please come and present at a Strategic Planning and Management Session in Mpumalanga on Monday, 14 Feb 2011. Now you can understand why it was the best Valentine’s Day invitation I have ever received!
Gen Phahlane & Col. Lindie Traut from the FSL with Willie Scholtz from the CJS
The purpose of the work session was to review the progress made with revamping the CJS and to plan the way forward with regard to the CJS within the FSL for the 2011/2012 fiscal Year. The work session formed part of the ongoing strategic planning processes currently underway in the Forensic Science Division, which is being spearheaded by its new head, Gen. Phahlane. My brief was to present to the Planning Team, The DNA Project’s overview of where we believe funds allocated to the FSL by the CJSR (Criminal Justice System Review – which you will recall was given R3bn over 3yrs) would be best spent in the forthcoming fiscal year, with a view to expanding the National DNA Database. What a brief! The Planning Team consisted not only of the Divisional Head of the FSL, but the head of the FSL and the LCRC and all of its top management staff. It was an honour to be invited to be part of this Session and an opportunity finally to be able to present all of our hard work and research over the last few years to such a focused group of people. In addition, the new management team of the FSL are one of the most hard working and dynamic group of people I have come across and they view the work of The DNA Project as an integral part of the review process, as opposed to an opposition group with a hidden agenda. For the first time in many years, Carolyn (who accompanied me to the session) and I felt that the tides had changed insofar as the FSL recognising the critical role it plays in the resolution of crime in South Africa.
The hour long presentation I gave was received with enthusiasm and most importantly, support. In a nutshell, The DNA Project believe the 3 key areas which need to be addressed are (1) Legislation (2) Capacity and (3) Awareness. The below slide, which come out of my presentation, captures the “How” we believe this can be achieved in SA:
Re: Legislation – despite the PC dragging their heels and insisting on embarking upon their overseas trip, the FSL are two steps ahead and have already implemented extensive strategies to increase their capacity by commencing on the building of two more National Labs in KZN and the Eastern cape – by de-centralising the Pretroia Lab, it will mean that provincial cases do not clog up the Pretoria process lines and obviously will result in an increase in samples loaded. Hand in hand with this development, they believe fully in training and awareness at the crime scene. As such, we have their support in promoting the Forensic Hons degree they have helped us develop and they will be participating in lectures at the tertiary institutions offering this course. As the FSL capacity increases, they envisage employing at least another 750 analysts and as such, the more skilled analysts they can employ the better. These strategies will ensure that the FSL’s implementation plan which they will need to prepare for Parliament, will have substance and vision, two elements key to the successful execution of the DNA Bill, when passed.
But mot importantly, where The DNAP and the FSL can work together in the most critical way, is through awareness at the crime scene – I spoke of a chain being as strong as its weakest link – and this means that with all of the above strategies in place, all will fail if we cannot collect the DNA evidence left at the crime scene by the perpetrator/s. 
We only have one chance to do this, and this is where the public/private partnership comes into play. If we can continue to create DNA Awareness and the importance of crime scene preservation amongst the general public and sectors of the community such as within private security companies, paramedics, trauma centres, justice and schools, then they can implement training and awareness amongst Crime Scene Examiners and first responding police officers.
This leads me to my final point which is that the expansion of the National DNA Database in South Africa, and its use as a crime intelligence tool (i.e. investigations driven by DNA, rather than DNA being considered simply a piece of evidence) requires the interplay between Justice, SAPS and the FSL and….the public – which is us, The DNA Project and YOU!
All of the above points made sense to the Planning Team and even more encouraging is that they were excited about some of the ideas I presented. We left the following day with renewed hope and energy and trust in our hearts, that the new management team are going to get it right and not just right, but they are willing and able to take DNA and its potential as an evidentiary tool, to a new level in SA. The Planning Session continued over the next couple of days, and we look forward to hearing how the 2011/2012 fiscal year is going to unfold. I have no doubt that it will be a space worth watching out for….
It was indeed a “Happy Valentine’s Day” – let’s hope in this case, all our dreams come true!
Vanessa
Envisioning the future of DNA in SA – someone has to do it!
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
We all know that DNA technologies have radically reshaped the role of forensics in police work throughout the world – well, that is everywhere perhaps but here in SA, where we unarguably need it the most. Even small amounts of blood, saliva, or other biological materials left at a crime scene can now lead to the identification or elimination of a suspect. Genetic evidence is being used both to convict perpetrators and to exonerate people who were wrongfully convicted on less reliable evidence, including scores of people on death row in the USA. We all know this. It is a fact. It is the future of successful police work, and that is why I am not ready nor willing to take off my gloves in our fight to make our Government recognise this all important fact.
Every now and again, I wake up and think – what is the point? All those nay-sayers who previously told me and still tell me – you will never get anywhere with our Government would love to prove me wrong and say, ‘I told you so’… But the point is, this is inevitable – just as the cell phone has become an indispensable instrument in every SA’s life, so too will the power of DNA and its use in resolving crime, become an indispensable tool in SA’s fight against crime. So when I heard this week that the Portfolio Committee have yet again postponed their overseas tour of the UK and Canada to , and I quote, “our winter”, ie July 2011, my initial reaction was despondency – but then I realised that they are simply delaying the inevitable – whilst they manipulate dates to ensure that their overseas trip at least falls within the European and Canadian summer (a much more pleasant time to journey, you will agree), we need to ensure that all the groundwork must continue to ensure that once that legislation is in place, we are ready for it:
1. DNA AWARENESS – this is critical, because unless we are aware that DNA is all prevalent on a crime scene, that crucial evidence will be lost, and of no further use. This applies to every officer, (be it police or security guard) paramedic or member of the public and as such, we will continue to embark upon our National DNA Awareness Campaign which offers free workshops to all these sectors as well as schools, community centres and trauma centres. The more people who know about the power of DNA, how to preserve it and how it can be used to link serial offenders to their crimes and ultimately prosecute them, the better.
2. DNA CAPACITY – we need to support our Forensic Labs, as the new legislation, when passed, will require a large amount of samples to be processed if our DNA Database is to be used as an intelligent database. To this end, more Universities need to take up our offer of hosting a Forensic DNA course at their institution (we have developed a Forensic Hons course which we provide to Universities free of charge), so that we have more qualified Forensic Analysts entering the labs. We also need to support the idea of allowing private DNA labs to assist the state forensic labs, certainly in the beginning, to process more samples to enter onto the DNA Database. This is an accepted practice all over the world, and in a country which is plagued by backlogs, there is no reason not to implement this system in SA.
3. GENETIC JUSTICE & THE LAW! – without proper legislation in place, convicted offenders remain free to leave prison without having had their DNA profile entered onto the DNA Database; the current DNA Database remains unregulated due to inadequate and outdated legislation attempting to define this area of the law; serial rapists and murderers remain at large and undetected because our Database cannot be utilised as an intelligent Database without proper legislation allowing it to be used as such. We need to put pressure on the Portfolio Committee to get a move on and review the DNA Bill, because one more delay will render their stated intentions to pass the Bill untruthful, without substance and against the will of the SA people.
Our plan for 2011 therefore is to rigourously promote DNA Awareness in the first part of the year. To this end we have a media plan and funding to help us spread this crucial awareness (remember DNA CSI!?) on a national basis. When the PC return from their overseas trip, ready, we trust to finally concentrate on actually reviewing the legislation, we hope that there will be a groundswell of South African’s fully aware of why DNA and its use in Forensics needs to form part of this country’s crime fighting strategy.
Let us know if you want us to host a free DNA Awareness workshop or lecture at your organisation, school, community centre, trauma centre or security company – simply email Maya at maya@dnaproject.co.za or call (021) 418-0647.
with thanks
Vanessa
Meeting the new General of the FSL
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
I was in Johannesburg and Pretoria today where I met with two very interesting and influential people – one government, one private.
The first, General Phahlane, is the newly appointed head of the Forensic Science Lab [which, remember, consists of 6 different forensic divisions, only one of which is Biology (DNA)]. The General has taken over from the former Div. Commissioner, Piet du Toit and has a very different managerial style to his predecessor. For one, he promotes opens lines of communications, and whilst I sense that he is definitely not a man to be crossed, he encourages support and input so long as it is constructive. The General acknowledges that the current system is far from perfect, however, he is tackling the issues head on and apparently, transparently, and from all accounts runs a very tight ship too. His random appearance within the lab at any given time, certainly ensures that the people working there are on the ball at all times, and I believe this approach has enabled him to boast substantial inroads into the DNA backlog, that is constantly being raised as an issue. The General believes that NGO’s have a critical role to play in making fundamental changes in SA – more importantly, he supports our objectives and has a particular interest in the DNA Awareness campaign we have embarked upon throughout South Africa as he too understands how vital a part the preservation of crime scene evidence plays. His passion to eradicate crime in SA is palpable, and I truly look forward to watching the changes I believe he is going to make in developing a strategy to expand the DNA Database in SA. It is abundantly clear that he comprehends and embraces the significant role a criminal intelligence database plays in SA as opposed to simply a DNA Database, and that more profiles = a more powerful database for crime detection and resolution, but ultimately prevention.
Vanessa Lynch with General Phahlane and Colonel Shezi at the Pretoria FSL
I was also greatly relieved to hear that Colonel Shezi, who attended the meeting, will be accompanying the Portfolio Committee on their overseas study tour to the UK and Canada next year. The General confirmed that at least her trip had been approved, so I am assuming from that information, that the remainder of the Committee members must too have a final agenda. This reinforces the statement made by MP, Annelize van Wyk on SABC1 (“It’s your Right”) last week, that the tour has been scheduled for late January 2011 and that deliberations on the DNA Bill would commence in February on their return; and… that she anticipated that it would be finalised by mid 2011. We won’t of course be holding our breath that they will stick to those timelines, as reviewing legislation is not a cut and dry affair, BUT, at least it is finally being publicly spoken about and is now openly on the agenda.
The other person I met was the CEO of the Security Industry Alliance. The concept of introducing DNA Awareness Training as an industry standard amongst all private security personnel was discussed. In other words, we host “Train the Trainer” workshops so that all security companies are enabled to incorporate DNA Awareness Training as part of their standard crime scene management training. I am putting together a proposal this week which will formulate a plan to incorporate this type of awareness from the top down. This is very exciting, as it may well mean, that DNA Awareness becomes part and parcel of all first responding officers’ training — again, it underlies the objective we are very passionate about — and that is that you only have a limited opportunity to preserve crime scene evidence, without which all the laws in the land and fancy labs are rendered meaningless.
Let’s hope that our simple acronym DNA CSI becomes as well known in SA as Coca Cola!
Vanessa
Feedback from Interpol DNA User’s Conference
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010This time last week I was sitting at the Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, France listening to the Chief of the USA FBI CODIS Unit talk about International DNA Exchange methods. This was only one of approximately 35 fascinating presentations delivered by representatives from over 50 countries. As you may well imagine, participating in a conference of this magnitude was extraordinary, and the value of being able to interact with the other representatives: priceless. A special mention of thanks needs to go to our generous sponsor, The Open Society Foundation for South Africa, which enabled us to attend this incredible conference.
Members of the Interpol DNA Monitoring Expert Group at the Conference
The keynote speaker was a highly respected Australian Forensic Scientist by the name of Dr Simon Walsh. Dr Walsh is the Co-ordinator of the Australian DNA Database who spoke about, amongst other topics, ‘New Technologies & Techniques in the 21st Century use of DNA‘. We heard about what he termed “the triumvirate of interests” which is the critical interplay between the police, forensic scientists and the justice system. If you absent one of these 3 critical components when trying to implement a DNA Criminal Intelligence Database, the success of any DNA Database will fail to reach its expected outcome. This needs to be considered in great detail in a country such as South Africa where both our justice system and SAPS are fraught with problems. These challenges however are not unique to South Africa, and the way in which other countries have dealt with this, is by the implementation of a DNA Expansion Board or body of people, represented by the various departments as well as ethicists and parliamentarians and any other group relevant to that administration who collectively oversee the development of the DNA Database. I have spoken about this type of overseeing body on many occasions in the past and still believe that this approach would work well in South Africa, which in fact has the benefit of an already established DNA database as well as a functional forensic laboratory. Whether the Portfolio Committee reviewing our current legislation recognises this critical requirement however, is yet to be seen….
Carolyn and I arriving at Interpol Headquarters on the first day of the Conference
On a more complex level, and probably more relevant to countries such as the UK, Australia and the USA who have developed and utilised their DNA Databases successfully as criminal intelligence tools, Dr Walsh’s presentation went further to explore an inferential model for DNA database performance using data from major national DNA database programs. The parameters that optimise desirable database outputs (matches) were isolated and discussed, as was his approach for maximizing financial efficiency and minimizing ethical impact brought about by the successful implementation of DNA databases. Dr Walsh’s research takes important steps toward identifying measures of performance for forensic DNA database operations and should you wish to know more about his formulas he has developed to measure DNA Database outcomes, feel free to email me at info@dnaproject.co.za and I will send you the paper he has recently written on this subject.
What struck me most at the conference was the extent to which the majority of the countries government’s represented at the conference, were willing to put in whatever resources were required to establish and maximise the effectiveness of their respective DNA databases. It was also sobering to see how seriously they took crime and in some countries a stolen car was considered to be headline news and worthy of 24/7 resources to catch the perpetrator. You can just imagine the reaction that followed my presentation where I described the current situation in South Africa, spoke about my experience when my father was murdered and ended off the presentation with the VUKA ad which highlights the severity of crime in our country. To say that the audience was left in stunned silence at the end of my presentation, is perhaps an
Vanessa Lynch presenting at the Interpol DNA Conference
understatement. I think we all know how de-sensitized we are to crime in South Africa, but when people came up to me afterwards and told me they had literally choked-up during my presentation, I realised how far removed we really are and how dangerous this can be as it moves us into a place of acceptance of an absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable situation. And people kept asking me – but WHY doesn’t your government do something about this and WHY is it taking so long to pass this legislation which will convert all those unprocessed rape kits I had shown them, into a DNA profile which may lead the CSI’s to the perpetrator to STOP them from re-offending. And the best question: but WHY doesn’t your government or your parliamentarians RESPECT these victims and future victims of crime enough in your country to do something about this? Yes, WHY indeed?
Carolyn and Vanessa in the Interpol Headquarter's Garden
On the other end of the scale we heard from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) how they have been given 1 BILLION US$ to implement a population database in their region – their crime rate, I recall, is something in the region of 950 reported crimes over 10 years?! The reason – to prevent future crime from occurring! Whilst this is not a realistic option in most parts of the world, it sparked serious debate amongst the audience in respect of the value and ethical considerations a population database would bring about. For those not familiar with the term ‘population database’, it simply means that instead of focusing on putting the criminal population on the DNA database, it puts the entire country’s DNA profiles on the database which creates a larger reference pool for matching purposes when a crime occurs and a DNA profile is uplifted from a crime scene. Theirs is going to be the first population database in the world, and what I found most significant was that legislation was not listed as a ‘requirement’ for its implementation! This is because, and I quote, “Legislation will be taken care of by the Minister of Interior”! No questions asked.
We thoroughly enjoyed listening to some fascinating case studies presented by different countries over the course of the 3 days, all of which obviously showed how DNA was used to track the perpetrator of the crime, and in some cases, from as far back as the early 1970′s and throughout the world using Interpol’s International DNA Database.
We were also shown a very exciting new website called the “Forensic DNA World Map Project “. The World Map Project provides forensic scientists, criminal justice professionals and lawmakers with access to the policy, legislative, legal and technical knowledge-base of the countries throughout the world that have operational DNA database programs. It is a free service but is limited to those individuals pursuing the information for the purpose of developing and refining forensic DNA policy. One can apply for a password and if given, those Users may request additional country-specific information, such as enabling legislation, DNA database reports, presentations, statistical data, technical standards and media. The WMP can also connect users with forensic DNA databasing leaders throughout the world. I am going to suggest to our Parliamentary Researcher that she apply for a password to access this database and that she disseminate same to members of our Portfolio Committee – this is probably what they really need to look at to inform themselves of International Best Practice (IBP) – in other words, an armchair tour of the World’s DNA Policies may be all they need to learn the most about how this technology is being implemented internationally and the issues and challenges each of those countries has had to deal with!! I have looked at the site and it is arguably one of the most informative portals when it comes to looking at IBP in this arena.
There was also a lot of discussion around familial searching, which is used mostly for DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) but in a more regulated way, to establish a link to the perpetrator when they pick up a familial link on the DNA database between a crime stain and a profile which already exists on the database. Judge Arthur Tompkins presented some very sound and objective arguments on both the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of familial searching. Having listened to these discussions I think it would be prudent for South Africa to consider inserting a provision in our new DNA legislation to regulate this area of the database.
Judge Tompkins also provided us with very valuable insight into the lessons learned from the outcome of the contentious S & Marper cases which reached the European Human Rights Courts. I so wished even ONE member of our Portfolio Committee could have been there to participate in these discussions, as they have stated on more than one occasion that they are considering the outcome of this case in the review of our legislation. This case you may recall, centres around the retention of ‘innocent’ profiles on the database where the person is subsequently acquitted or the case is dropped. What you may find interesting, is that “S” is a person named Smith who was a minor at the time of his DNA profile being loaded onto the database. Smith was not subsequently convicted. But how ironic is this: Smith was recently linked to a crime he was found guilty of committing – how? Because his DNA profile found on the crime scene matched his ‘innocent’ profile on the database….
Carolyn and I left the Interpol Headquarters last Friday with our heads full of new information and new ideas; new friends and allies and more importantly renewed motivation. We received such wonderful support for the work we are doing in South Africa – everyone found it completely unique (and not surprisingly, somewhat strange!) that a non-government organisation was necessary in a country like South Africa where we provide DNA awareness, grass roots training, skills development and most importantly a public voice to try and convince the relevant governmental powers of the value of a criminal intelligence DNA database. Be that as it may, we will continue with our mission to ‘fight crime with science’, and whilst we are not advocating that this is the ‘silver bullet’ to resolve crime, it certainly remains a mystery as to why South Africa has not leapt at the opportunity to more fully use this phenomenal technology where accountability for crime has not yet been achieved.
Should you wish to know anything further about the conference, feel free to email me on info@dnaproject.co.za
Vanessa
Processing Burglary Scenes for DNA
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Read below a very Interesting Article that was published in the latest Evidence Technology Magazine:
Opinion: Processing Burglary Scenes for DNA
Written by Ralph Barfield
Processing Burglary Scenes for DNA:
Too Expensive for Many Agencies?
Many law-enforcement agency chief executives and managers believe they are caught between a rock and a hard place. Most feel pressured to make tough choices on where to expend their limited resources. Too often, in an effort to save money, agencies are not processing burglaries due to the sheer volume of incidents and the drain on manpower.
Crime-scene processing is a normal function of a law-enforcement agency’s responsibility. A 2008 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study report, “The DNA Field Experiment,” pointed out clearly the effective results of recovering and processing DNA from burglary scenes. Every law-enforcement chief executive and manager should read the study and analyze the results. The study should be an encouragement to all agencies to aggressively process burglary scenes—especially for DNA.
Some chief executives are quick to point out they simply cannot afford to use this new technology. This is an indefensible position for any agency to take and offer the community. This argument is heard from agencies of all sizes and permeates all areas of law enforcement. What is actually occurring is a lack of interest and desire to enable an agency to effectively search crime scenes for DNA evidence. If the agency is set up to process routine burglaries, then the next logical step is processing for DNA. This requires a minimal amount of additional supplies. It will also require some additional specialized training in DNA recovery, obtaining control samples, storage, and laboratory submissions. This training is neither lengthy nor expensive! There is a higher cost to be paid by small and medium size agencies that make little or no effort to aggressively process crime scenes for DNA, especially burglaries.
As forensic hype in popular media begins to wane, many agencies have been quietly abandoning the processing burglaries and some never began processing burglaries to begin with. Between 1999 and 2003, a mid-sized Virginia agency proved beyond all doubt it was possible to effectively and aggressively process crime scenes for DNA. At the time, they were operating on limited resources. What they did have were crime-scene investigators, officers, supervisors, and managers that bought into the new DNA-processing program.
Some agencies honestly believe they need expensive forensic equipment and highly trained forensic specialists—“as seen on TV”—to recover DNA. In some cases that may be true. However, the majority of the time that is simply not the case. The routine day-to-day cases that small and mid-sized agencies generally face are larceny, burglary, and auto theft.
The key elements are training, knowledge, and aggressiveness in the approach to recovering DNA from crime scenes. Some managers have been heard to say, “We’ll just call the state if we have one of those cases.” The problem with this line of reasoning is that state and federal agencies are stretched to the financial breaking point. Smaller agencies can and should take more responsibility for processing their own routine, day-to-day scenes for DNA.
Four basics are needed in most cases: 1) training; 2) collection and packaging materials; 3) desire; 4) common sense. Assessing what suspects may have done at the scene can be very effective. Determinations such as How did he get in? or What did he touch, eat, drink or leave behind? can yield valuable DNA evidence. Teaching crime-scene investigators to work quickly and effectively can pay huge dividends in costs. However, as the 2008 NIJ DNA Field Experiment revealed, regular police officers can just as effectively collect DNA evidence as crime-scene investigators. The key is a basic four- to eight-hour basic training class on identification, documentation, and collection of suspected DNA evidence. All agency personnel, including supervisors and managers, should receive the training. The steps are not complicated and the results can be tremendous.
Normally, agencies get one opportunity to process a scene or collect a vital piece of evidence. Equipping all vehicles with latex gloves, paper envelopes, paper bags, sterile cotton swabs, collection boxes for the cotton swabs, and perhaps small amounts of distilled water is all that is needed.
A mid-sized Virginia agency had patrol officers, detectives, sergeants, and lieutenants who collected items on their own initiative. This later proved critical because they knew what to do in those situations where the items with potential DNA could have been lost or destroyed.
Here’s an example: A female police patrol sergeant who had received training on potential DNA identification and collection responded to the foot pursuit of two armed robbery suspects in a heavily traveled downtown area. While traveling the escape route, she spotted a ski mask matching the description worn by one of the suspects. She immediately stopped, obtained a clean paper bag, and collected the ski mask. Later, DNA analysis of the mask identified two of the suspects involved in a string of armed robberies in the downtown area. Both suspects were later convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Supervisors and managers should not be expected to routinely process crime scenes. However, as anyone with extensive street experience knows, those situations can and will occur in which it is critical that they act to prevent the loss of valuable evidence.
The DNA databases available to agencies nationwide offer an opportunity to identify suspects previously unknown to law enforcement. A mid-sized agency was amazed at the number of suspects identified as the state’s DNA database of known offenders continued to grow. The results of identifications in burglaries, sexual assaults, homicides, and auto thefts convinced even the most critical skeptics in the agency. Granted, initially Virginia had the first and one of the largest DNA databases in the country, but numerous states have steadily grown their databases and many have passed Virginia’s volume. The increase of blind DNA database hits has resulted from the education of law-enforcement management and personnel, improved training on DNA collection, states adding additional known and suspected felons, and laboratory improvements in DNA processing.
These tough financial times will improve in the future. Those agencies that have processed scenes for DNA will reap the benefits when state laboratories begin lifting current submission restrictions due to manpower cutbacks.
The cost of failing to aggressively process burglary scenes for potential DNA is far greater than the cost of training and supplies. The citizens in many communities often display amazement and frustration with small agencies’ obvious lack of interest in processing crime scenes. Criminals in too many jurisdictions are getting a free pass from law enforcement agencies. The agency must put forth at least a limited effort if nothing else. The agency’s personnel are admitting defeat in combating the continual problem of burglary. This is a major hurdle many small agencies face. The issue is psychological, and until addressed, this will not improve. Officers and management share the responsibility of changing an agency’s attitude toward processing burglaries.
The cost of not processing burglaries shows up in a continual higher rate of reported incidents. Often the arrest of one or more burglars will have an immediate impact. Many burglars ply their trade in strings of thefts and will often be responsible for numerous incidents. Through the use of state DNA databases, previously unknown burglars from other states or jurisdiction have been identified. As more states enter juveniles into DNA databases, agencies are surprised by the number involved in burglary, larceny, and auto theft. By processing burglaries for DNA, agencies will often inadvertently identify suspects involved in numerous and more violent crimes such as rape, robbery, or murder.
Laboratories play a major role in cooperation with local law-enforcement agencies in analysis of submitted potential DNA items of evidence. The list of items from which laboratories can now recover DNA is almost limitless. Many laboratories have begun requiring agencies already effective in DNA collection to initially sift through items and submit those items of the highest probative value. This requires officers to become well-versed and knowledgeable on the laboratory’s DNA capabilities. Someone within the agency must be ready and willing to communicate openly with laboratory examiners. That person then becomes essential to educating and training agency personnel on updates, new techniques, requirements, policies, and procedural changes.
Burglary is sometimes referred to as the training ground for criminals and crime-scene investigators. Just as it often provides a gateway to other more serious crimes for the criminals, burglary aslo provides for the police officer and investigator the a high level of scene and evidence diversity in its sheer volume.
Law-enforcement agencies often fail to realize that criminal elements are watching and are aware of how much or how little processing is conducted. Agencies that neglect to utilize DNA and fingerprint processing of burglaries, larcenies, and auto theft are actually helping the criminals. This can become a serious problem in resort and college communities. Simply relying on old investigative techniques is occurring in amazing volumes much too often in a period of improved forensic technology.
Those small and medium size agencies that currently process scenes for DNA must be commended. Communities have a right to expect their law-enforcement agency to take the necessary steps enabling them to properly document, collect, and submit physical evidence that could identify criminals and protect their citizens.
The actual cost of processing DNA must be considered—no one disputes that. However, the cost of training, equipment, and supplies is not excessive. It can be done without enlarging facilities, hiring additional personnel, or purchasing expensive equipment. Agency size is not a deterrent to effectiveness. Current officers or civilians can be trained in the proper methods of DNA processing. The majority of law-enforcement agencies in the United States are small; yet they, mid-sized, and large agencies are reluctant to embrace this effective technology.
There are some bright spots among law-enforcement agencies. However, much remains to be done. Contrary to what many in law-enforcement management contend, the cost of not processing burglaries for DNA is far greater than the cost of conducting the processing.
About the Author
Detective Sergeant Ralph Barfield served with the Charlottesville (Virginia) Police Department for 27 years, the last ten as Forensic Unit Supervisor. The unit was recognized in 2003 by the National Institute of Justice for their success with DNA crime scene processing, DNA identification & elimination and use of DNA Data Banks. The unit’s success with DNA was featured twice on CBS and on NPR. He has instructed police officers across the country and taught at local colleges. He is also an author, writing the article “Small Police Department Forensics and DNA”. He can be reached at: rbarf@aol.com
DNA: The crime-fighting tool that needs to be used
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
This article was featured in The Witness, 3 Sep 2010 on Page 9.
DNA: The crime-fighting tool that needs to be used
03 Sep 2010
Dr Carolyn Hancock, a Director of The DNA Project
EARLIER this year Rudi Venter, who had been charged with the murder of his wife, walked out of court a free man. DNA evidence had determined he was innocent.
Venter’s wife was beaten to death with a baseball bat at their Johannesburg home in 2006. At the time, Venter said he had returned home after taking his children to school and seen two men running from the house before finding his critically injured wife. Venter was arrested for her murder a year later. Just before he was due to go to trial in February, his legal team asked an expert to interpret the DNA results from material found at the scene. It was found that DNA samples obtained at the scene contained the blood of Venter’s wife and two unidentified men. Venter’s blood was not present anywhere. Consequently, the state withdrew the murder charge.
If the DNA found at the scene had been processed at the time as a matter of routine, Venter would not have spent four years with a murder charge hanging over him.
“DNA does not only prove guilt, but it can also prove innocence,” says Dr Carolyn Hancock, a director of the DNA Project and a former genetics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
“In the United States, 258 people have been freed from prison on the basis of DNA results. The average time they had spent in prison was 13 years. Seventeen of them were on death row for crimes they never committed.”
Currently, this cannot happen in South Africa as the processing of DNA for forensic purposes by the South African Police Force Forensic Science Laboratory is prioritised according to five categories. Top of the list is a request from prosecutors when they have a suspect. The laboratory then undertakes to do a complete DNA analysis within 120 days or by trial date.
Bottom of the list are those cases with no known suspect. “This is what we believe should change,” says Hancock. “With a DNA database, reoffenders would immediately be identified.”
For this to happen, aspects of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 need to be amended in order for the country’s police force to be able to routinely use DNA for forensic purposes. The act is out of date; back in 1977, nobody had started using DNA for forensic purposes and consequently the act doesn’t specifically regulate the use of DNA for criminal intelligence purposes.
To address this omission, the Criminal Law Forensic Procedures Amendment Bill was drafted in 2008. It deals with the use of DNA and looks to allow police access to fingerprint databases other than their own, such as those of the departments of home affairs and transport, which routinely take fingerprints for identification purposes.
The draft bill was subsequently divided into two parts — one dealing with fingerprints, the other with DNA. The fingerprint legislation has been adopted. As a result, in addition to about five million fingerprints recorded by the SAPF, the police will now be allowed to search the other databases and access around 33 million fingerprints.
The DNA part of the bill is on hold while the parliamentary portfolio committee overseeing the bill reviews presentations regarding the issue and travels overseas to see how DNA analysis is done in other countries. It is unlikely that any decision will be made on the bill until next year.
If the bill is passed, which seems likely, capacity issues will have to be addressed if it is to be implemented effectively. One solution, given the lack of capacity of the SAPF, would be to outsource work to private laboratories.
“The capacity does exist out there to make this work,” says Hancock. “The immediate demand could be met. The use of private labs for the analysis of reference samples taken from arrestees would be a short-term solution, but they are used everywhere else and it is regarded as international best practice.”
But there remains a need for more qualified personnel within the SAPF and to that end, Hancock, as part of an initiative funded by the sponsors of the DNA Project, has been instrumental in developing a post-graduate qualification in forensic DNA analysis so that the state will have access to well-qualified personnel. This degree is already being offered at the University of the Free State and will be offered next year at the University of Cape Town. “The course material is freely available to any South African post-graduate institution,” she says.
Although the draft bill might be on hold, the DNA Project is promoting and publicising the use of DNA analysis in the fight against crime. The DNA Project is a non-profit, public-benefit organisation lobbying for the expansion of a national DNA database and it proposes that DNA profiles be created from DNA samples collected from crime scenes and from all those suspected or convicted of a crime.
“In this country, such a database would be hugely beneficial because of the number of criminals who reoffend,” says Hancock. “If you get them on the database the first time they commit an offence, then if you don’t convict them for their first offence you will hopefully do so when they reoffend.”
The DNA Project has just launched a new campaign aimed at promoting DNA awareness in South Africa. “We are primarily targeting community police forums and security companies,” says Hancock.
“The latter are often the first on a crime scene. You press a panic button and they are the first to respond. We want to ensure that anyone who is first at a crime scene ensures that any DNA evidence is preserved as it can easily be contaminated or destroyed. This evidence should be collected by trained SAPF crime-scene investigators.”
This nation-wide campaign sees the DNA Project offering free DNA awareness workshops to educate people as to the benefits of utilising DNA evidence for crime detection and prevention, and the need to contain and not contaminate a crime scene. “We would like to offer these workshops, which are free of charge, to those who are likely to be the first to arrive at a crime scene. For example, first responding officers, security guards, police reservists and paramedics.”
The DNA project is hoping to get this message to 10 000 people this year and they also have government funding to reach as many schoolchildren as possible. “Genetics is part of the school curriculum,” says Hancock, “and forensics is something they study — and many of them watch CSI on TV.”
The workshops will provide a basic understanding of how DNA profiling can be used to assist in criminal investigations in South Africa and the importance of preserving DNA evidence which may be at a crime scene. “This is essential as no matter how good our legislation or our laboratories are”, says Hancock, “we need to have the evidence properly preserved and collected at the crime scene.”
FORENSIC DNA evidence plays a vital role in criminal investigations because it can identify and help convict a suspect who is guilty of committing a crime or prove the innocence of a suspect who has been wrongly accused of a crime.
WHAT IS DNA? WHERE IS IT FOUND IN THE BODY?
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. This is the name for the chemical which is found in almost every cell in the human body and which is the blueprint or recipe for that person’s characteristics. Everyone’s DNA is unique (unless they have an identical twin). A person’s DNA is also exactly the same in every cell of their body. For example, the DNA pattern, also known as the DNA profile, in a human’s blood is the same as the DNA in his or her skin cells, body tissue, semen and saliva, which makes it possible to compare crime-scene evidence such as semen stains, saliva on cigarette butts and blood on clothing, with DNA obtained from a blood sample or cheek scraping taken from a suspect.
WHAT IS A DNA PROFILE?
A DNA profile is simply a unique list of letters and numbers obtained from a person’s DNA that acts as a personal identifier. A DNA profile contains no information about a person’s physical characteristics, their mental predisposition or anything about their medical his-tory. In the same way as fingerprints link a suspect to a crime, DNA provides scientific evidence that can identify or exclude a suspect from a police investigation. It can also be used to identify a victim through DNA from relatives, even when a body cannot be found. DNA profiling can also link two or more crime scenes. When evidence from one crime scene is compared with evidence from another, the police can tell whether it was the same person who had committed two different crimes. Even very old cases, which the police thought would never be solved, may contain DNA evidence that can be used to identify the person who committed that crime.
HOW CAN DNA HELP TO IDENTIFY A SUSPECT?
Once DNA samples have been collected from a crime scene and processed at the Forensic Science Laboratory, the DNA profile, which is the identification number taken from the DNA sample, can be compared with the DNA profiles taken from a known suspect. If no known suspect exists, the DNA profile taken from the crime scene is still valuable, as when it is entered onto the national DNA database, the police can see whether that DNA profile links to another known DNA profile on the DNA database or perhaps it may even link several different crimes to each other.
— DNA Project.
DNA DOES NOT ONLY PROVE GUILT, BUT IT CAN ALSO PROVE INNOCENCE. IN THE UNITED STATES, 258 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FREED FROM PRISON ON THE BASIS OF DNA RESULTS. THE AVERAGE TIME THEY HAD SPENT IN PRISON WAS 13 YEARS. SEVENTEEN OF THEM WERE ON DEATH ROW FOR CRIMES THEY NEVER COMMITTED.
