When Pennsylvania State Representative Larry Farnese (D- Philadelphia) learned that a serial rapist in his hometown might have been able to continue his crime spree because police did not have DNA evidence that could have linked him to multiple crimes, he called for a hearing to find out what was going on with the system. Police records show they had the DNA of the accused rapist in hand for nearly three months before it was added to the database where it could be matched to the other crimes.
What Farnese found was that at one time the state DNA lab was working with an 80-day backlog, which has been whittled down to 60 days in recent months. Farnese says the goal is to get it down to 14 days in the near future. However, he notes that in many European countries a one-week backlog is considered to be unacceptable.
Farnese says during the hearing it became clear to him that the employees in the lab are working as hard as they can. He says the number of employees and the equipment available limits the lab’s workload.
While funding levels were not specifically part of the hearing, Farnese says there was discussion on how to best use the state’s assets, including privatization options. “We determined based upon the hearing that it would cost more to box, protect and ship, then get them back and upload those samples, than it would to do it in house,” says Farnese. “So it is actually more inefficient to ship these to a third party testing lab.” Farnese says last year the state lab processed DNA samples from 1,924 active crime cases and uploaded 23,938 DNA profiles to the database.
The hearing comes as legislation that would increase the number of crimes for which DNA testing is done is making its way through the state legislature. Some believe that bill could increase the number of DNA samples processed by the lab by 400%.
Showing posts with label state police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state police. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
State Police Commissioner: New DNA Testing Would Swamp Dept.
A new bill expanding Pennsylvania’s DNA testing is raising logistical concerns for the Commonwealth’s acting State Police Commissioner.
The measure, authored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, would collect DNA samples from people arrested for felonies and eight misdemeanors. The legislation broadens the scope of crimes leading to automatic DNA tests. It also shifts the timing of the swabbing, from after a conviction to after arrest. The bill would require the destruction of DNA samples for people found “not guilty.”
Governor Tom Corbett , Pennsylvania's former Attorney General, hasn't decided if he would sign the measure if it's passed.
"I don’t have a problem with a database of somebody who has been arrested and convicted. I think they have to be convicted. I haven’t read the bill so give me fair comment, but my personal opinion: if somebody is arrested, if you’re going to take DNA it has to be -- arrested, take the DNA, but it goes in a database after conviction."
At a recent budget hearing, Acting Commissioner Frank Noonan said the legislation would increase Pennsylvania’s DNA processing caseloads by 400 percent. “We will need about 35 analysts. The equipment’s very expensive. We would have to consume other equipment, as well as a facility,” he said. “And the one thing – I would just like to caution it is not something that people could say, ‘ok, go and do it,’ and we could just flip a switch. … It would take at least a year for us to get ready. It takes at least a year to train these analysts. So it’s something that – if we do decide to do it it has to be planned, there has to be a planned growth to our DNA laboratory.”
Noonan says the increase could cost more than $13 million dollars. A Pileggi spokesman is skeptical of the estimate, saying other states have made similar transitions at a cost of less than $2 million.
The measure, authored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, would collect DNA samples from people arrested for felonies and eight misdemeanors. The legislation broadens the scope of crimes leading to automatic DNA tests. It also shifts the timing of the swabbing, from after a conviction to after arrest. The bill would require the destruction of DNA samples for people found “not guilty.”
Governor Tom Corbett , Pennsylvania's former Attorney General, hasn't decided if he would sign the measure if it's passed.
"I don’t have a problem with a database of somebody who has been arrested and convicted. I think they have to be convicted. I haven’t read the bill so give me fair comment, but my personal opinion: if somebody is arrested, if you’re going to take DNA it has to be -- arrested, take the DNA, but it goes in a database after conviction."
At a recent budget hearing, Acting Commissioner Frank Noonan said the legislation would increase Pennsylvania’s DNA processing caseloads by 400 percent. “We will need about 35 analysts. The equipment’s very expensive. We would have to consume other equipment, as well as a facility,” he said. “And the one thing – I would just like to caution it is not something that people could say, ‘ok, go and do it,’ and we could just flip a switch. … It would take at least a year for us to get ready. It takes at least a year to train these analysts. So it’s something that – if we do decide to do it it has to be planned, there has to be a planned growth to our DNA laboratory.”
Noonan says the increase could cost more than $13 million dollars. A Pileggi spokesman is skeptical of the estimate, saying other states have made similar transitions at a cost of less than $2 million.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Proposed Fees For Towns That Rely On State Police
As municipalities across Pennsylvania trim or eliminate their police departments due to budget cuts, the State Police say they’re being spread thin.
Colonel Frank Noonan, acting State Police Commissioner, says more troopers are needed. He says State Police cover about 27 percent of Pennsylvania's population as the sole law enforcement department.
"They’re small populations. So that doesn’t look like, well, that’s not that many people. But they’re spread out so far. So it increases our response time to do things in a safe manner, and things like that. So that’s a problem. But another issue is now some of the larger communities that are facing reductions, not eliminations, of their police departments.
Governor Tom Corbett has included training money in his budget for 230 new state troopers, but Noonan, says the agency is about 400 officers below a full compliment.
"It’s my understanding that over the last, about, three years, there’s been about 58 municipalities that have either eliminated or reduced their police departments. I mean, State Police stands ready. We are the last resort. If you don’t have police, obviously, we are the ones who have to go in there and do it. But it does stretch us thin sometimes."
Bills in front of both the House and Senate would charge fees to municipalities relying on State Police protection. Similar measures have been introduced in previous years, but have never been passed into law.
Colonel Frank Noonan, acting State Police Commissioner, says more troopers are needed. He says State Police cover about 27 percent of Pennsylvania's population as the sole law enforcement department.
"They’re small populations. So that doesn’t look like, well, that’s not that many people. But they’re spread out so far. So it increases our response time to do things in a safe manner, and things like that. So that’s a problem. But another issue is now some of the larger communities that are facing reductions, not eliminations, of their police departments.
Governor Tom Corbett has included training money in his budget for 230 new state troopers, but Noonan, says the agency is about 400 officers below a full compliment.
"It’s my understanding that over the last, about, three years, there’s been about 58 municipalities that have either eliminated or reduced their police departments. I mean, State Police stands ready. We are the last resort. If you don’t have police, obviously, we are the ones who have to go in there and do it. But it does stretch us thin sometimes."
Bills in front of both the House and Senate would charge fees to municipalities relying on State Police protection. Similar measures have been introduced in previous years, but have never been passed into law.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Report Shows Decline in Number of PA Police Pursuits
A annual report by the Pennsylvania State Police shows a 12.9 percent decrease in police pursuits in 2009 from 2008. In 2008, the state reported 1,816 vehicle pursuits, 9 of which resulted in fatality. Last year, 1,582 pursuits were recorded, with 8 deaths. All 8 of those killed were fleeing from police.
According to the report, 532 of the 2009 police pursuits resulted in crashes, with 185 of them involving injuries. In 2008, 606 pursuits ended with an accident, and 212 of them involved injuries.
Press Secretary Jack Lewis says the number of police pursuits has been gradually declining in recent years. However, he says this has been the most significant decrease.
Lewis says this could be a result of less people taking that risk of fleeing from police, or police using less aggressive tactics when pursuing a vehicle. He says about 57% of all apprehensions of people in fleeing vehicles were accomplished using whats called a trailing pursuit, which is when the officer tries to follow the vehicle in attempt to pull it over rather than going ahead of it and trying to cut it off. "So since trailing pursuits are the least aggressive type of pursuit we're hopeful that departments are using those in attempt to cut down on the number of injuries and death."
The complete 2009 Pennsylvania Police Pursuit Report can be found on their website.
According to the report, 532 of the 2009 police pursuits resulted in crashes, with 185 of them involving injuries. In 2008, 606 pursuits ended with an accident, and 212 of them involved injuries.
Press Secretary Jack Lewis says the number of police pursuits has been gradually declining in recent years. However, he says this has been the most significant decrease.
Lewis says this could be a result of less people taking that risk of fleeing from police, or police using less aggressive tactics when pursuing a vehicle. He says about 57% of all apprehensions of people in fleeing vehicles were accomplished using whats called a trailing pursuit, which is when the officer tries to follow the vehicle in attempt to pull it over rather than going ahead of it and trying to cut it off. "So since trailing pursuits are the least aggressive type of pursuit we're hopeful that departments are using those in attempt to cut down on the number of injuries and death."
The complete 2009 Pennsylvania Police Pursuit Report can be found on their website.
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