FY 2015 DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction Program - Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

The Los Angles County Sheriff's Department, Scientific Services Bureau (LASD-SSB) Crime Lab exists under the County of Los Angeles and is responsible for analyzing evidence from criminal investigations for the entire County, excluding the City of Los Angeles and the area it serves.

The LASD-SSB remains under severe budget constraints and overtime is strictly controlled. The Federal funding from this award will be used for the following goals:

1. Reduce and prevent casework backlog through analyst overtime and supply purchases.
2. Increase or maintain capacity of the biology section by purchasing equipment (One new Tecan EVO-150 Extraction robot for use with sexual assault casework)
3. Provide the required continuing education for 24 analysts.

The LASD-SSB can expect to reduce the DNA case backlog by at least 815 cases by the end of the award period. The turnaround time is expected to be reduced to 90 days or less, and the analyst throughput for casework is expected to increase to 27 samples per analyst, per month.

nca/ncf.