The following letter is an open letter I have written to various newspapers today in the wake of the brutal attack and murder of Anene Booysens, aged 17, last week.

The brutal attack and murder of yet another innocent young South African girl, brings to mind the evocative words of Chris Asplen, an International DNA Expert who after visiting our country, wrote an editorial in several newspapers in June 2011 [Gauteng (Saturday Star, 11 June 2011) , KZN (The Witness, 10 June 2011) and the Western Cape (Sunday Argus, 5 June 2011)]. Read the full article here

Mr Asplen has helped over 35 countries realise the potential of DNA technology to protect victims — mostly women and children — from the horrors of rape. In that article, he highlighted the fact that the most important factor influencing the potential effect of DNA in any criminal justice system is what the law allows you to do with it and that nowhere is that dynamic more tragically clear than in South Africa. At that time, Mr Asplen bemoaned that the politicians in the South African Parliament had, ten years since his first visit to our country, STILL failed to give police the legal authority to save literally thousands upon thousands of lives with DNA.  Make that twelve years later, and Mr Asplen would be horrified to learn that  South Africa has STILL NOT, in contrast with over more than 50 countries around the world, passed the DNA Bill which would allow for the establishment of a forensic DNA database.
Reading that editorial now, his words are chilling in the wake of the rape, mutilation and murder of Anene Booysen, aged 17, last week:

Anene Booysen

“As someone who works regularly in other peoples’ countries, I don’t “call out” or criticise foreign  officials easily or often.  But on a scale unequaled anywhere else on earth, hundreds of thousands of  children’s lives are sacrificed because of the failure to act by politicians in South Africa.  The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee responsible for the legislation that would give police the ability to immediately begin taking rapists off the street has avoided acting on the law for years.  The legislation sits in Committee while the worst sexual violence statistics in the world continue to pile up.   Except they are not really statistics. They are terrified woman and little girls staring into the face of horrific violence and evil while they are likely infected with HIV – three more of them just in the time it took you to read this article. “

The DNA Project has been fighting tirelessly for the implementation of this DNA Bill for the past 4 years. What is worse, is that a perfectly good draft DNA Bill, which has been extensively reviewed, debated, translated, made into policy and reviewed again, is waiting in the wings of Parliament to be adopted by Cabinet to be reviewed (yes, again!)  by the Portfolio Committee on Police before it can be passed. But, without any political will to ensure that this legislation is promulgated, and urgently, who knows how many more years Mr Asplen will lament on this tragic state of affairs in our country.  It is accepted worldwide that when it comes to fighting back against serial rapists there is nothing better at getting rapists off the street, at protecting young girls from rape,  than DNA databases: so why are we not doing it here? Because we don’t yet have the laws which will give us the power to fight back.

Vanessa Lynch outside Parliament, Cape Town

In the meantime, convicted offenders continue to be released without having their DNA Profiles taken and entered onto the DNA Database, suspects of violent crimes are not routinely profiled because it is not mandatory to do so and our existing Database is hampered by the fact that it cannot be used as a criminal intelligence tool because we do not have the legislation to allow us to expand the DNA database for this purpose. With our high rate of recidivism in SA, we are wasting a valuable opportunity to identify repeat offenders at an earlier stage and get them off the streets, and sadly, it is costing people their lives.

How many more graves do we have to dig?

What compounds this tragedy further is that we have the necessary infrastructure to leverage the power of DNA technology in South Africa. What more excuses do we need to hear? How many more graves do we need to dig? There is nowhere else to place the wreath of responsibility other than around the neck of our politicians who are preventing this critical Bill from being enacted. Let’s hope they don’t have to place a wreath on the grave of their daughter or loved one to move them into action.

____________________________________________________

Vanessa Lynch
Executive Director
The DNA Project | fighting crime with science
Cape Town
E-mail: vanessalynch@dnaproject.co.za // Web: www.dnaproject.co.za

We receive emails on a daily basis enquiring about a career in Forensic Analysis in South Africa. We have put together a list of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS  which will give you some insight into this field and what is required should you wish to pursue a career in forensics in South Africa:

1. What field of forensic science does the DNA Project focus on?
There are many fields in forensic science and we can only provide you with information on forensic genetics. The DNA Project focuses specifically on the use of DNA from biological material that can be used as evidence in criminal cases. This type of work is
generally done in a laboratory where the scientist will receive evidence from a crime scene, extract DNA from the evidence if possible and thereafter obtain a DNA profile of the individual in question. The DNA profile obtained from crime scene evidence will then
be compared with the DNA profile from a suspect. If they match then it means that the suspect must have been at the crime scene. In contrast if there is no match then the suspect is innocent.
The DNA Project does not have any laboratories of our own and we are not involved with any casework. We function merely as an NGO whose objectives include the implementation of a DNA awareness campaign where we educate people who are likely to be the first at a crime scene on the importance of DNA evidence as well as how to contain and not contaminate a crime scene. In addition, we are lobbying for changes to the existing legislation regarding the use of DNA evidence and a DNA Database to assist
in the detection and conviction of offenders.

2. What subjects do I need to take at school if I want to study to become a forensic DNA analyst?
You will need to take Physical Science, Life Science (Biology) and core Maths for matric in order to be accepted at a University offering a BSc degree in Molecular Biology.

3. How can I study to become a DNA analyst at a forensic science laboratory?
If you are considering a career in Forensic Genetics (DNA) then you would need to complete a B.Sc. and major in Genetics and Biochemistry or Molecular Biology. This can be done at a number of Universities such as Pretoria, University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch, University of Free State and University of KZN. The B.Sc. degree takes 3 years to complete. Thereafter you would need to complete an honours degree (1 year) where you would specialise in forensic DNA analysis. Currently there are
two Universities offering such a degree. These are the University of Free State and the University of Cape Town. Such a degree would qualify you for employment at the State Forensic Science Laboratory (part of SAPS) or other private laboratories offering services such as paternity testing.

The contact person at UFS is Dr. Karen Ehlers: EhlersK.SCI@ufs.ac.za

The contact person at UCT is Dr. Marise Heyns: marise.heyns@uct.ac.za
All the above-mentioned courses are offered at postgraduate level at University. Alternatively, a diploma in forensic science is offered by a company called Forensics 4 Africa. In this regard you could contact Pierre Joubert at: pierre@forensics4africa.com

Students at work at the UFS Genetics Dept.

4. Can I do an internship or job shadow someone at the DNA Project?
The DNA Project does not have any laboratories of their own and are not involved with
any case work. We function merely as an NGO that tries to assist the State Forensic
Science Laboratory to operate more efficiently. At present our primary objectives include
a DNA awareness campaign where we educate people who are likely to be the first at a
crime scene on the importance of DNA evidence as well as how to contain and not
contaminate a crime scene.
Unfortunately due to contamination issues, as well as the sensitive nature of criminal
casework, I do not think it will be possible for you to job shadow anyone at the State
Forensic Science Laboratory. You could however contact one of the private laboratories
to see if they would have anything available. This would give you some idea only of the
type of laboratory work you would be involved with. Some private laboratories include:
Pathcare, Unistel, GENEDiagnostics and Lancet.

5. How do I find out about employment opportunities in the field of forensic biology?
In terms of employment opportunities, your best bet would be to obtain employment within the South African Police Force – the structure under which all disciplines of forensics fall. The State labs are often looking for new staff members. They generally advertise in the Sunday papers and advertise for a number of posts at the same time.

The new state-of-the-art Forensic Lab in Plattefkloof, Cape Town

Whenever we are notified of posts that are available you will find the information on our blog. The last advertisement can be found  here. Alternatively, you  can contact some private laboratories which do work on cases such as paternity testing: Pathcare, Unistel, GENEDiagnostics and Lancet.

A young girl is brutally attacked and viciously raped in the small town of Louisvale in the Northern Cape. Her injuries are so substantial that gang rape is assumed. This horrifying attack provokes outrage in the local community and six men are swiftly arrested and subsequently spend the next three months in jail – for their own safety, as the community have threatened them with their lives for committing this monstrous attack. All six men lose their jobs. On examining the case the public prosecutor calls for DNA analysis to be used to assist in the investigation. First, samples are taken from the crime scene, which in this instance is the young girl herself. A doctor collects DNA samples from her clothing and body, which are sent to the forensic science laboratory’s DNA unit for analysis. In the meantime, DNA reference samples are also taken from the six suspects and sent to the same laboratory for analysis to determine whether the DNA profiles of these six men match those analysed from the samples taken from the victim.

The DNA results reveal an unexpected turn in the investigation as they show that only one rapist is responsible for this terrible attack and that none of the six accused men have a DNA profile that matches that of the real assailant. Based on these results, the six falsely accused men are immediately released and exonerated of the crime. Another suspect, a former boyfriend of the young girl’s mother, is subsequently arrested and a DNA reference sample is taken from him and sent to the DNA laboratory for analysis. The DNA results show an exact DNA match with the rapist. He is sentenced to life imprisonment.

This is not a scene from CSI, but an account of an actual case which occurred in South Africa. What is particularly significant in this case is that DNA not only proved the innocence of six people but also led to the conviction of the actual rapist. DNA can therefore be used not only to link suspects to a crime but to exclude innocent people from an investigation.

But what of those people in prison who may have been convicted before the advent of DNA Profiling in South Africa? The case above demonstrates the power of DNA to exclude a suspect which is equally, if not more important than including a suspect in an investigation. In law school I was taught: ‘…rather let 500 guilty people go free, than convict one innocent person.’ Think about it. That innocent person could be you, and I could think of nothing worse than being imprisoned for a crime I had not committed.

I am therefore proud to have been asked to become a Committee Member of the Innocence Project of South Africa (IPSA), a recently formed non-profit organisation dedicated to the investigation, litigation and exoneration of individuals wrongfully convicted in South Africa. At first, the Project will focus exclusively on those cases in which scientific testing (specifically DNA testing) can establish the innocence of those wrongfully convicted. The IPSA will therefore specifically focus on cases where persons were convicted and post-conviction DNA testing of evidential material may establish their innocence. And, where persons were convicted when DNA testing was not yet available or where earlier processes used were not as discriminating and accurate as the current available testing methods.

However, it is envisaged that as the IPSA develops, the need may arise to also provide assistance in those cases where wrongful convictions result from other systemic defects in the Criminal Justice System, such as eyewitness misidentification; false confessions and admissions; the role of unreliable informants and ineffective legal representation.

It is the vision of the Innocence Project SA that no person will ever go to prison for a crime that he/she did not commit.

Based on the number of exonerations*** taking place through the work of the Innocence Project in the USA, there is no doubt that this is a hugely important project in our own country and I invite you to visit their website to read more about the work they plan to do in South Africa.

Vanessa Lynch

*** There have been more than 300 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history:

• Eighteen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.
• The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 13.6 years.
• In almost 50 percent of DNA exoneration cases, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing.

24 January 2013

A reader raised the question yesterday as to why the South African Government are objecting to passing DNA legislation in South Africa – the answer is that there is no objection – they are simply not prioritising it!

The Portfolio Committee on Police in session

It is however heartening to report that we can confirm that a final draft of the proposed DNA Bill is now ready to be tabled in Parliament – The Secretariat for Police, Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane, advised us this week that this will happen after the State of the Nation address on the 14th Feb. 2013.

Gen Shezi (from the Forensic Science Lab) with the Civilian Secretariat Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane outside Parliament

There are only two Bills currently before the Portfolio Committee on Police: The Dangerous Weapons Bill (which is all of 7 pages long, of which only two pages are substantive)! – and the Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill. We have been advised that the Dangerous Weapons Bill will be dealt with first and that the DNA Bill will be dealt with next and will be prioritised over the Private Security Bill. This however remains to be seen and should we see that the Private Security Bill takes precedence over the DNA Bill, we will be vociferous in our response, as we hope you will be too! If the Portfolio Committee on Police should deem the Private Security Amendment Bill to be more important than the DNA Bill, which literally has the ability to take rapists and murderers off the street, it would be not only alarming, but despicable.

We will be keeping very close track of the progress of the DNA Bill in the following weeks and will provide constant updates on our website and via Facebook.

Vanessa Lynch.

University of  VIRGINIA (USA) — Violent criminals whose DNA is stored in a database are 23.4 percent more likely to be convicted of another crime within three years than their unprofiled counterparts.

The marginal cost of preventing a serious offense using DNA profiling is only $70—and falling, Jennifer Doleac says. "My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that DNA databases are between 100 and 1, 000 times more cost-effective than these other common law enforcement tools."

In other words, profiled offenders, especially those younger than 25 and those with multiple convictions, continue to commit new offenses, but are caught much more often than those not in the database, according to the first analysis of the crime-fighting power of DNA.

DNA databases reduce crime rates, especially in categories where forensic evidence is likely to be collected at the scene—murder, rape, assault, and vehicle theft. Estimates of the marginal cost of preventing each crime suggest that DNA databases are orders of magnitude more cost-effective than alternatives like hiring police or locking people up longer.

The study is published in the Batten School’s new working paper series and is currently under review at a peer-reviewed journal.

Since 1988, every US state has established a database of criminal offenders’ DNA profiles, and these databases have been periodically expanded—for instance, to include individuals convicted of an additional type of felony. Such expansions are often in response to widely publicized “if only” cases where terrible crimes could have been prevented if only a particular offender had been required to submit a DNA sample based on a previous conviction, says Jennifer Doleac, assistant professor of public policy and economics at the University of Virginia.

Doleac used state database expansion events between 1988 and 2008 to compare when very similar offenders were released from prison just a few weeks apart—some before the effective date of the DNA database expansion and others afterward.

Violent criminals whose DNA is stored in a database are 23.4 percent more likely to be convicted of another crime within three years than their unprofiled counterparts.

Crucially, in all other characteristics that might affect recidivism risk, the offenders were a homogenous set, so any subsequent differences between the two groups could be attributed to the effect of DNA profiling.

Lower crime rates

Drawing on corrections department administrative data from seven states, Doleac assembled a data set of 3,949 offenders. Of those, 1,993 were released before a database expansion (the control group) and 1,956 were released afterward.

On average, Doleac found that DNA profiling does help identify suspects, just as proponents have assumed. Profiled offenders are 23.4 percent more likely to be convicted of another crime within three years than their unprofiled counterparts. Among offenders, this effect is particularly large for those profiled after multiple convictions and for offenders released before age 25—prime crime-committing years, according to past research. The effect is much smaller for those profiled after their first incarceration.

This suggests that the higher probability of getting caught outweighs the deterrent effect—if there is any—of DNA profiling, Doleac says.

Larger DNA databases were associated with lower crime rates from 2000 to 2008, the study finds. The estimated magnitudes imply that one common policy proposal—expanding databases to include individuals arrested (but not convicted) for serious felonies—would result in a 3.2 percent decrease in murders, a 6.6 percent decrease in rapes, a 2.9 percent decrease in aggravated assaults, and a 5.4 percent decrease in vehicle thefts.

The absence of any significant impact on robbery or burglary rates suggests more limited use of DNA evidence from property crime scenes, or high turnover among perpetrators of those crimes, Doleac says.

The probability of arresting a suspect in new crimes falls significantly as databases grow, for all types of offenses except rape. This result is consistent with two hypotheses, Doleac says:

First, as DNA databases grow, “easy to catch” offenders are deterred or incarcerated quickly, so new crimes are committed by more elusive offenders, resulting in new crimes that are more difficult to solve. Second, as police officers become more familiar with DNA and other forensic evidence, they grow more aware of the limited accuracy of tools they once relied upon—like eyewitness testimony—and are increasingly selective in whom they arrest, resulting in fewer but more accurate arrests.

‘Huge bang for the buck’

DNA databases reduce crime rates, especially in categories where forensic evidence is likely to be collected at the scene—murder, rape, assault, and vehicle theft.

Other studies have estimated the marginal cost of preventing a serious offense (felony homicide and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft) by imposing longer jail sentences (about $7,600) or by hiring more police officers ($26,300 to $62,500).

In contrast, the marginal cost of preventing a serious offense using DNA profiling is only $70—and falling, Doleac says. “My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that DNA databases are between 100 and 1,000 times more cost-effective than these other common law enforcement tools.”

The cost of collecting and analyzing each DNA sample is less than $40, according to a US Department of Justice estimate, and less than $20 in several states. The marginal cost of analyzing new DNA samples continues to fall as technology improves, and DNA databases exhibit tremendous returns to scale. There are large startup costs for crime lab equipment and computer databases, but the cost of expanding the program is relatively small.

Doleac’s untested calculation, based on an existing estimate of the social costs of crime, suggests that DNA databases result in dramatic savings. Each profile resulted in 0.57 fewer serious offenses, for a social cost savings of approximately $27,600, she says; extrapolating from that estimate, in 2010 state and federal governments spent approximately $30.5 million adding 761,609 offender profiles to DNA databases, but saved $21 billion by preventing new crimes.

“I found that DNA-profiling provides huge bang for the buck in reducing crime,” Doleac says.

This article appeared in Futurity.org on Fri, 11th Jan 2013 and has been re-posted on this blog as an article of interest.

Many of you may have seen our amazing TV advert last year: The Cigarette that Saved Lives

If you haven’t already seen it, watch it here now!

Filming the advert on set

What many of you didn’t know, is that whilst we received an overwhelmingly positive response to this incredibly clever and functional crime scene awareness message, there was one viewer who considered the advert ‘racist’ and raised an objection to the Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASASA).

The ASASA are compelled to make a ruling on the appropriateness of an advert even where one complaint has been received and thus the first round of submissions began in May 2012. The DNA Project successfully defended their case in the first round of proceedings and a ruling was made by the ASASA that the storyline of the advert had a critical message to convey and was therefore relevant – not the colour of either of the actors’ skin. Furthermore it found that the advert was not intended to be racist nor offensive, and therefore cannot be ruled as racist.

Despite having successfully defended our advert against the complainant, the objector chose to appeal this finding and so we were forced to respond yet again, the outcome of which would be final. It was out with the boxing gloves again and a full response was presented to the ASASA Board in August last year. Today, we are happy to report that we have received the final ruling from that last appeal and that is, that our TV advert is not offensive nor racist and the complainants objections against our advert have all been dismissed.

Shooting the advert

This represents an important victory for us, as it became a matter of principle: the TV advert has long finished its run on TV and therefore on a practical level, the finding is less relevant. However, we have created an important precedent and more importantly showed that the motivation behind this advert and the message it was sending to the audience, was in fact not only highly relevant, but achieved, namely, “Never disturb a crime, DNA evidence can convict”. The actors who were depicted in the advert were completely incidental to that fact. Thank you to ASASA for recognising that important point and allowing us to continue to disseminate our crime scene awareness message that could possibly save a future life.

Some background on the making of the The Cigarette that Saved Lives

In support of the work we do, Change a Life Trust, FOXP2 and the Cape Town media industry rallied together last year to fund and create the advert entitled “The Cigarette that saved Lives”. Paradoxically, the value of the DNA evidence left on the butt of a cigarette may be the one piece of evidence that links the perpetrator to the crime — and if that link is made and the perpetrator caught and convicted, that person will effectively be taken off the streets, preventing that criminal from committing future crimes and therefore saving future lives which may have been lost had the perpetrator not been caught.

This is not a far-fetched concept: On the 7 November 2012 the DNA of a man accused of murdering a Pretoria North woman was found at the crime scene. Forensic expert Major Shamil Govan testified that Sipho Masiqa’s DNA was found on a cigarette butt at the murder scene.

“The chance of someone else having this DNA is one in 6.8 trillion people,” he told the court, adding that the world’s population was about seven billion.“We expect to see this DNA profile again if there were 1 000 earths. The DNA is the same in all areas. It is a match.”

Had that cigarette butt not been found, the accused would still be on the streets, possibly committing further murders? This is how in this case, the cigarette used to convict the accused, is saving future lives from being lost.

The point of the advert is to show that the perpetrator is leaving behind a trail of evidence and that this trail of evidence represents the vital clues, which in reality can be followed to catch these criminals and this fact is cleverly highlighted in the advert. The end message is strong and powerful: DNA can convict. Never disturb a crime scene: in disturbing crime scenes, so much valuable DNA and other forensic evidence is lost in SA, and this is why we are educating people to assist in protecting and preserving crime scenes.

Vanessa Lynch

2013-01-04 14:01

New Delhi – Prosecutors said DNA tests have established the guilt of the suspects in the gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old, which have sparked protests across India, news reports said.

The 16 December crime was “well-planned” and the suspects’ involvement was established with tests conducted on bites by the victim on three of her assailants and skin and hair collected from under her nails, public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said on Thursday after five men were charged in a New Delhi court with kidnapping, rape and murder.

The charges were filed a day before top police and government officials from Indian states met on Friday in the capital to discuss preventing violence against women and the prosecution of such crimes.

The meeting and demonstrations were held after the attack on the physiotherapy student on a moving bus in New Delhi. The victim died on Saturday in a Singapore hospital.

As the year draws to a close, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on what we have done during the course of 2012 to further the aims and objectives of The DNA Project. We want to share this with you because The DNA Project is made up not only of our own team members, but of all those who support us – whether it be through volunteer work, funding, standing up to be counted or actually putting into practice what has been learned about crime scene preservation. We can and will continue to fight this together.

Thank you for all of your support!

Take care over the festive season and we look forward to reconnecting with you all in 2013.

with thanks

Vanessa Lynch & The DNA Project Team

* Our offices will be closed between the 17th December 2012 and the 7th January 2013.

Herewith a Summary of the work we have done during the course of 2012:

The DNA Project has worked tirelessly during the course of this last year to ensure that crime scene awareness is practiced not only by the general public, but all first on crime scene responders. A representative of the Forensic Science Services publicly thanked The DNA Project last week at an International Policing Summit for the work we have done and continue to do in creating crime scene awareness in South Africa. What was particularly exciting is that he further stated that they had noticed a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of DNA evidence being received at the Forensic Lab, which they attribute to the effectiveness of the work of the DNA Project in creating greater crime scene awareness and in highlighting the importance of not contaminating or destroying evidence left on a crime scene.  These inroads, coupled with the inclusion of the DNA Project in the process of progressing of the DNA Bill through Parliament, means that we will need to embark on an even greater awareness drive next year to keep up with the demand being placed on us in this critical arena. This will require the training of additional trainers, the purchasing of extra training equipment, the expansion of our workshops into other areas as well as the provision of more crime scene awareness material.

We also wish to continue with our media awareness drive which this year has generated over R7000 000 worth of advertising, at virtually no cost to us, thanks to the incredibly generous contributions of The Change a Life Trust,  FoxP2, Assegai Javelin, Africa Imagery as well as etv and DSTV and several publishing houses, all of which have provided us with funding as well as free and greatly discounted  services to enable us to create various media platforms to disseminate our crime scene awareness messages.

Our target of training 5000 first on crime scene responders during 2012, was exceeded, in fact almost doubled: we trained 9944 first on crime scene responders this year and have to date trained over 18 950 crime scene responders!

Vanessa Lynch and Carolyn Hancock

Herewith is an excerpt from an email received by a SAPS trainee who attended one of our workshops in October 2012:
“I want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for the brilliant presentation the other day….
Historically police, very alarmingly experienced grave difficulty in fulfilling their roles at crime scenes mostly due to lack of updated training in this field of crime scene management… Most of the police officers whom I observed at your workshop on the 18th October was (sic) with me on the advanced crime scene management course presented by the division SAPS Training, Western Cape. The training however focused much on the preservation, access control and the collection of evidence and not much focus was on DNA itself as potential evidence and the likelihood of where else it could be obtained.
This was where your workshop enhanced the SAPS training and I thank you for that.
Madam I and I’m sure I speak for all of us that attended your workshop… “We salute you!”
Never give up and tackle this problem “One policeman, ambulance man, paramedic, fireman and security guard” at a time.”

Update on Legislation:
The Portfolio Committee for Police (PCP) finally accepted the DNA Policy on the 13th June 2012, which policy has underpinned the drafting of the second version of the DNA Bill. The final Bill has been drafted and is now expected to be adopted by Cabinet. The DNA Policy recommended that South Africa establish a DNA Database as a criminal intelligence tool, to aid in fighting crime and to enhance public confidence while taking into consideration peoples’ Constitutional rights. The DNA Project was extensively consulted in the drafting of the policy and we are extremely pleased that most of our recommendations were included.  Most significantly, the DNA Project was consulted to assist with the drafting of the final DNA Bill, which will now be adopted by Cabinet.  Various drafts of the DNA Bill were sent to the DNA Project for commentary, recommendations and amendments. It is anticipated that the Portfolio Committee for Police will begin reviewing the final Bill in early January 2013.   We are also delighted to report that a new regulation has just been passed allowing police officers, who have been appropriately trained by a medical practitioner, to collect buccal (cheek) swabs from arrestees and suspects for collection of reference DNA

Vanessa Lynch reading the DNA Policy as presented to the Committee

samples. A meeting with the new Section Head of the National DNA Database in JHB last week, confirmed that a bid will be published in January 2013 calling for medical practitioners to apply to the forensic services to conduct group training in line with the provisions of this regulation.  The importance of this regulation is that when the DNA Bill is promulgated, making it mandatory for arrestees to have their DNA sample collected, they will already have trained police officials to take on this role.

The distribution of the DNA Awareness Materials developed by The DNA Project continued throughout 2012. All of our innovative training materials are distributed and provided free of charge to all trainees, namely:

1. Posters
A series of 5 posters have been designed and printed for use by organizations involved in crime scene response. These range from paramedic training institutions, to police stations, to schools, to security companies and CPF’s.  The uptake and enthusiasm in respect of recipients of these posters has exceeded our expectations in terms of the outreach and functional awareness they have created. We continue to see our posters in police stations, community centres, security offices, schools and science centres throughout South Africa.

We have also printed a number of Posters with the ‘She Asked for It’ message on it. These have enjoyed phenomenal success and have been distributed at seminars, exhibitions as well as requested by several Rape Crisis Centres to put on their walls for education purposes and to encourage victims to request DNA evidence to be collected.

2. Crime Scene Tape

In the first part of the year, we created and printed crime scene tape with the simple message:
KEEP OUT! CRIME SCENE.

Jes Foord and Carolyn Hancock

The purpose of this tape was to provide a physical barrier between the crime scene and non-forensic, non-essential personnel to ensure that crime scenes are protected from contamination, destruction and disturbance for as long as possible in order for the Crime Scene Investigators to properly collect evidence left at the crime scene before it is destroyed.

As we cannot use official SAPS barrier tape, the first order of 1000 rolls of this ‘non-official’ barrier tape has already been distributed and we have just ordered a further 500 rolls. It is currently being used by CPF’s, paramedics, security companies and non-SAPS first responding officers in an effort to help SECURE the crime scene.

3. Leaflets
In the first part of the year we created a simple 4 page,  A5 leaflet to disseminate at awareness events, schools and larger awareness events and conferences. The information contained in our leaflet tell a simple story: The types of possible biological evidence which may be found at a crime scene are depicted and the “DNA CSI” message that crime scenes must be secured and nothing touched before the forensic personnel arrive is emphasized.

We have just completed and printed another set of leaflets, with the “She Asked for It” advert on the cover, which is focused on sexual assault. We have already distributed approximately 9000 of these leaflets and are preparing for another print run in 2013.

4. DNA Information Booklets
We have ordered and had delivered the 4th print run of our comprehensive 12 page DNA Awareness information booklet, with some variation following our Trainer’s workshop held in Cape Town.  The booklet provides a comprehensive overview of DNA profiling, sources of DNA, how DNA profiles can help identify a suspect and solve crimes, where evidence can be found on a crime scene, the possible location of DNA evidence at a crime scene, the risk of contamination of DNA evidence, how it should be stored and transported, how a rape victim can preserve DNA evidence as well as information about the DNA legislation, how people can help at a crime scene and our central message: ‘DNA CSI’.

5. Training Manuals
Our training manuals have just been updated and provide DNA Awareness Trainers with the basic information required to present a DNA Awareness Training Workshop. The primary target audience for these Training Manuals are first responders and any person involved in the crime scene investigation process who are not fully trained to collect forensic evidence. The comprehensive step by step instruction manual is a take home home manual given to new trainees free of charge in order that they may follow the clear instructions contained therein when hosting future workshops.

Every year we gather together in Johannesburg with our ‘extended’ family:  the amazing people who work for the Change a Life Trust and the fantastic group of cyclists who ‘make it happen’. Not only are we expected, as a beneficiary of this Trust, to provide feedback in respect of what we did with their money — we are given an opportunity to hear what other beneficiaries have done too. It’s all about Changing Peoples’ Lives and it is a humbling experience.

Top Right: Chris Froome (2nd in the Tour de France last year), Darryl Impey (one of our top cyclists in SA) & Robbie Hunter (SA Champion) Bottom Left: Vanessa Lynch & Carolyn Hancock

We heard how a small school in the Transkei is transforming the lives of the entire location, how rehabilitated young offenders have become mentors in their own communities and how a Karate Dojo is empowering young boys and teaching them respect for life and their peers. There is so much one can do to build a forest of hope in our country, and I for one, feel incredibly lucky to be part of that process.

We were given a platform to showcase some of the work The DNA Project has achieved during 2012 and we are very proud of what we have done with such a small team of people to create greater crime scene awareness in South Africa. This has all been made possible due to the incredible support of the Change a Life Trust and the phenomenal members who make up the DNA Project Team. It is such a pleasure and privilege to work with people who are so passionate about and committed to the work they do. To all of you – Thank you.

Vanessa Lynch

George Corbett (COO of Europcar) with Vanessa Lynch

The Change a Life High Five Tour 2012 documentary will premiere on SuperSport 6 (DStv channel 206)on 3 Dec 2012 at 18:30.

So don’t miss it!

Repeats of the show will be broadcast on:

05 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 15:45
07 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 08:30
10 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 17:00
11 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 04:00 and 10:30
12 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 06:30
13 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 16:00
14 December 2012 – SuperSport 6 (Channel 206) at 09:00

Here is a summary of some of the work we have done during 2012:

Number of First on Crime Scene Responders Trained:

2011: 8172 trainees
2012: 17 896 trainees!
Including SAPS:  VISPOL/LCRC, NPA/Metro Police

DNA Awareness Training Materials issued and printed: Posters, Information Booklets, Flyers, Lanyards, Notebooks, Certificates, Training Manuals, Crime Scene Tape, Training DVD’s, Evidence bags.

Legislation:

DNA Policy Approved: June 2012
Final DNA Bill Drafted: Oct 2012
Adoption by Cabinet: Pending
DNA Project: consulted on drafting of both Policy and Bill

Key Provisions of new DNA Bill:

DNA from all arrestees
Sample taking by police
Convicted offenders DNA profile included retrospectively
Creation of criminal intelligence DNA Database i.e. mandatory sampling from suspects (sch 1 crimes) & crime scenes

Media Campaign to educate greater public on the importance of the preservation of evidence on a crime scene:

DNA Project Directors', Vanessa Lynch & Carolyn Hancock

The Cigarette that saved Lives – TV
Never Disturb a Crime Scene – TV
‘She Asked for It‘ – Print
Free TV airtime: from Dec 2011-Dec 2012: etv, top tv, DSTV