DNA Data Bank Oversight Panel
DRAFT Minutes of Meeting
September 10, 2013
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Forensic Laboratory
Meriden, Connecticut
The meeting convened at 9:45 a.m. Present at the meeting were Angela Przech, Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection (DESPP)-Forensic Lab; Patricia Johannes, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Karen Gabianelli, DESPP; Matthew Garcia, DESPP; Lynn Wittenbrink, Attorney General’s Office; Robert Dearington, Attorney General’s Office; David Maiga, Department of Correction (DOC); Michael Aiello, Court Support Services Division; and Michael Gailor, Office of the Chief State's Attorney.
The minutes of the meeting of June 18, 2013, were reviewed and accepted after it was agreed that the minutes should be corrected by removing Lynn Wittenbrink from the list of attendees at the March 12, 2013 meeting.
On behalf of the laboratory, Ms. Johannes reported that as of August 31, 2013, approximately 97,912 convicted offender samples (the number has not been corrected for duplicates) have been submitted to the lab. Of these samples, 94,091 (up 1055 from the last report) have been profiled and reside in CODIS. The backlog of convicted offender samples waiting to be processed has been reduced by 213 to 842. There are 4,986 profiles in the Forensic Index.
The lab reported that 2104 investigations have been aided so far based on 2041 confirmed hits. Approximately 76 candidate matches are under evaluation.
The lab further reported that there are approximately 3915 cases awaiting testing to be done; 1396 of those cases previously were reviewed by the forensic biology section but were not examined for the presence of DNA.
The lab reported that the DNA section began outsourcing forensic samples to BODE Technologies on July 8, 2013. Data from approximately 225 samples (representing about 75 cases) has been received from BODE and analyzed by the lab. Eleven CODIS profiles were generated from the data and are slated to be entered into CODIS this week.
The laboratory proposed the adoption of procedures that would allow the lab to resolve identified collection issues in a timely manner. The procedures were approved with the proviso that changes would be made in accordance with suggestions made by members of the Oversight Committee.
CSSD reported that from April 2013 through June 2013, they scheduled 696 appointments to obtain DNA samples and that they were able to collect 550 samples which is a collection rate of approximately 79 percent. They reported 206 profiles were obtained from other sources.CSSD reported that in 331 non-probation cases they needed to obtain samples from 120 individuals, approximately 36%. CSSD submitted 20 new warrants for the refusal to submit to the taking of a DNA sample to the State Police.
DOC reported that they took 625 samples since the last meeting and 1771 in 2013 altogether. The number of persons who have refused to provide a sample has decreased by nine to 260.
The Committee went into executive session at 10:27 a.m. At 10:29 a.m. the Committee came out of executive session. As a result of discussion during the executive session, sample identified as 9-10-13 will be purged from the databank.
At 10:30, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Oversight Committee was scheduled for December 10, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. at the Forensic Science Laboratory.