St. Johns County FL Unveils New Countywide DNA Database

As reported by Justine Greene - St. Augustine Record July 30, 2010

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office will soon join a short list of agencies in Florida who use their own local databank for forensic DNA evidence, story Sheriff David Shoar.

SJCSO will be outsourcing to a private company, DNA SI Labs in North Carolina, to establish a countywide database of DNA samples to help solve local crimes, he said.
The Local DNA Index System (LODIS) program will allow every deputy to swab for DNA samples through touch, blood or bodily fluids samples left at crime scenes, he said.
"We've only been able to send DNA samples to the regional (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) lab in Jacksonville for very serious crimes, like sexual battery or murders, in the past," Shoar said. "Then we wait for weeks at a time for the results.
"Those labs are inundated with requests all the time."
On the local level, LODIS mimics the Combined DNA Index System, the national DNA database funded by the FBI.
By creating their own local database, Shoar said deputies can use the DNA evidence to help solve more local crimes, such as break-ins and thefts.
"There are only a small percentage of people who commit crimes like car breaks-ins," Shoar said. "By collecting the DNA samples on a string of break-ins, we can connect multiple crimes to one offender."
Shoar hopes to help build the DNA database by collecting samples during the booking process at the jail in addition to swabbing for samples at crime scenes.
Shoar believes this process, which will take only one two-hour training session to equip deputies with the necessary knowledge to use the swab kits and software, is more accurate than fingerprinting.
"With fingerprints, it's very difficult to get a clear print, and the powder we use is messy," he said. "For LODIS, it's just a quick swab, and then it's sent off to the lab and recorded into the system."
Shoar said he was interested in bringing the idea into St. Johns County after seeing it work effectively for the Palm Bay Police Department near Melbourne.
PBPD was the first agency in Florida to introduce the LODIS system in 2007, according to Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger.
In one case, PBPD officers were able to link a string of burglaries to one suspect through LODIS. When officers responded to a separate shoplifting case around the same time as the burglaries, they were able to link the suspect's DNA to those of the burglaries, according to an article in Police Chief Magazine.
Shoar said he will measure the success of the LODIS system based on the number of cases closed and arrests made from LODIS results. The first year of the project will serve as a preliminary trial to see if the program is worth continuing, he said. He hopes to have the LODIS program in everyday use by January.
"It's going to come down to how many cases we solve and how many people we put away through using LODIS," Shoar said.
The program is being paid for through money obtained by drug confiscations, he said.
"This system is allowing us to operate more quickly and independently," Shoar said. "And we hope it help us solve more crimes."