SR 04-26-2016 3B
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 26, 2016
Agenda Item: 3.B
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Jacqueline Seabrooks, Police Chief, Police Department
Subject: Authorization to execute Professional Services Agreement for Senior
Criminalist
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for the services of
one Senior Criminalist to perform forensic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis and
services. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding
process pursuant to Section 2.24.080 (a) and is for a total amount not to exceed
$170,792 with four additional one-year renewal options for a total amount not to exceed
$943,734 (includes a five percent annual contingency).
Executive Summary
Staff relies on DNA evidence to solve crimes, secure criminal filings, and make convictions
for criminal activity that occurs within Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Police Department's
(SMPD) Forensic Lab is not equipped to conduct DNA analysis, and instead uses the Los
Angeles County Crime Lab.
The Los Angeles County Crime Lab (County Crime Lab) analyzes DNA in the order it is
received from the majority of Los Angeles County's municipal law enforcement agencies.
An increased reliance on the County Crime Lab to process this form of evidence created a
backlog of unanalyzed evidence. To improve processing times, in December 2014 SMPD
began contracting for the services of an assigned Senior Criminalist from the County Crime
Lab. The assigned Senior Criminalist handles only cases involving Santa Monica DNA
evidence. This began as a six month pilot and was extended to a one year contract. The
Senior Criminalist processes and analyzes DNA evidence while also working with staff or all
aspects of the forensic response, including field work, crime scene processing, lab work,
and courtroom testimony. Staff recommends continuing this program to assign a full-time
Los Angeles County Senior Criminalist to SMPD's Forensic Section. The contract would be
for a one year period with four additional one year renewal options and total cost would not
exceed $943,734.
Background
The DNA analytic process is a rapidly evolving technology and as a result DNA
evidence has become a critically important investigative tool. On June 24, 2014, Council
approved a pilot program to authorize the Santa Monica Police Department to contract
1 of 4
with the County Crime Lab for a Senior Criminalist assigned to Santa Monica for a
period no longer than one year. On May 12, 2015, Council approved the program to
extend for an additional one year period.
Prior to contracting for an assigned Senior Criminalist, SMPD, in accordance with a
long-standing operational agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,
utilized the services of the County Crime Lab and its criminalists for crime scene
processing. Staff would submit DNA evidence to the County Crime Lab for DNA
extraction, analysis, and submission into the State's known offender database. The
substantial volume of cases handled by the County Crime Lab resulted in ongoing
significant time lags in receiving the analyzed results. Because there was no
mechanism to influence the order of evidence processing, detectives would receive
evidentiary analysis from the County Crime Lab in the order the evidence was
submitted. As a result, there were delays, as much as six months, in the identification of
suspects and in solving crimes.
These delays provided criminals with the opportunity to offend multiple times before
they were apprehended. In some cases, it took the County Crime Lab longer to provide
DNA analysis results than it would take a suspect to navigate through the criminal
justice system. As a result, criminal cases were adjudicated based on lesser charges as
there was no ability to bring about more substantial charges due to the absence of the
results of the DNA analysis.
Discussion
Since the program launched in December 2014, there has been a noticeable and
quantifiable enhanced level of efficiency in processing DNA evidence. There have been
three primary benchmarks identified to assess the success of the program compared to
the previous level of service provided by the County Crime Lab in the traditional
evidence submission process used throughout the County. Looking at the calendar
year 2014 statistics (pre-implementation) versus 2015 statistics (post-implementation),
the following is true:
2 of 4
Benchmark One: The amount of time that at a DNA sample is pending before being
assigned to a criminalist.
DNA sample pending time was reduced from 16 days to 12.4 days for a 23%
decrease.
Benchmark Two: The average amount of time to analyze a DNA sample once assigned
to a criminalist.
DNA analysis was reduced from an average of 79 days to a 33.6 days for a 58%
decrease in analysis time.
Benchmark Three: The average amount of processing time for a DNA sample, from
submission to completion.
The complete process was reduced from an average of 95 days to 64.5 days for
a 32% reduction.
The above benchmarks for DNA evidence analysis indicate that the City of Santa
Monica has benefitted significantly since the launch of the program. In addition to
improved processing efficiencies, cases which are deemed a high priority by SMPD are
now immediately put into the analysis process without having to compete with other
County and City entities. SMPD found having a Senior Criminalist assigned specifically
to handle the City's DNA evidence was a valuable asset in the effort to enhance public
safety.
Under the terms of this agreement, Los Angeles County would to assign one full time
Senior Criminalist to SMPD's Forensic Section. The Criminalist would be responsible for
completing cases based on the priorities set by SMPD. In addition, the Senior
Criminalist would provide direction and training to SMPD in areas related to sample
collection, crime scene investigation, case sampling testing, policy and any other type of
information requirements or consultation related to forensic DNA testing and any other
forensic science discipline. The agreement would also allow for crime scene field
response services on an on-call basis by alternate experienced criminalists in the event
3 of 4
the City's assigned Senior Criminalist is unavailable.
Vendor/Consultant Selection
Staff recommends Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to furnish and provide a
dedicated Senior Criminalist from the County Crime Lab to handle only Santa Monica
cases.
the only entity providing the service.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The contract to be awarded to Los Angeles County is for an
amount not to exceed $943,734. Funds of $170,792 are available in the FY 2016-17
budget in the Police Department. The contract will be charged to account
01304.522850. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By:
Nicole Bustamante, Senior Administrative Analyst
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. June 24, 2014 Staff Report (Weblink)
B. May 12, 2015 Staff Report (Weblink)
4 of 4
wĻŅĻƩĻƓĭĻʹ
/ƚƓƷƩğĭƷ
bƚ͵
ЊЉЋВЉΛ//{Μ