Page 8 July 13, 2017 DNA Evidence from front page explains. “Currently, there is no mandatory statewide tracking mechanism to collect and report these metrics. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section … to correct that.” The cost to test DNA evidence in a rape case can reach $5,000, and a 2014 report by the California State Auditor revealed that each year kits go unanalyzed by DNA laboratories for a variety of reasons. Chiu says the scope of the problem, however, cannot be properly estimated due to “a lack of effective tracking at the local level.” Women and men who report sexual assaults often know their attackers, according to statistics cited in a paper by Dean Kilpatrick with the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center. In nearly 80 percent of the cases reported to police, the victim and the accused perpetrator had an intimate relationship. Kilpatrick defined that connection as a current or former spouse, live-in partner, dating partner, boyfriend or girlfriend. About one in four sexual assaults are committed by strangers, a National Women’s Study found. Even when the accused attacker’s identity is known, there is good reason to enter their DNA in the state’s sexual assault tracking system, according to Chiu. Forensic analysis often helps identify repeat offenders. That can only occur if city police and county sheriff departments input sexual assault evidence into the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Tracking system, or SAFE-T. Lawmakers created the database in 2015 without requiring police, sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies to log in every rape kit they collect. Chiu’s measure would make it mandatory, along with an explanation why investigators chose not to send off a kit to a public or private DNA-testing lab for analysis. The state collects and stores DNA data of people who are arrested on suspicion of committing crimes, under a voter-approved initiative from 2004. Prop. 69 expanded the collection and use of criminal offender DNA samples and palm print impressions. The state Department of Justice reported in May that 917 “hits” were made by investigators who were looking at suspects. A “hit” connects a suspect with prior offenses or crimes. Chiu’s bill would require law enforcement agencies to inform the California Department of Justice within 120 days of taking the DNA samples. There is an additional reporting duty on the DNA labs to explain why they haven’t tested a sample within 120 days of receiving it, and if the evidence goes unprocessed beyond that time. If approved by the Senate and signed into law, Chiu’s bill would not cover untested evidence taken before January 1, 2018. A spokeswoman with the state Department of Justice said that the DNA crime labs have reduced any backlogs using grant money from the New York District Attorney’s Office. The Department of Justice and its Bureau of Forensic Services examines approximately 2,000 sexual assault kits per year. DNA is being tested in less than 30 days, and the state is further improving testing with a program called Rapid DNA Service, or RAD. The state’s top law enforcement agency says that 46 California counties use the expedited testing service. Los Angeles County is not one of them, and along with large areas of Orange County and San Diego use other public DNA labs as part of their sexual assault investigations. The costs to expand testing and reporting aren’t specified, however, Chui’s bill says the state by law must reimburse local cities and counties for complying with the order. The current effort to identify and track sexual predators is being funded with a $1.6 million grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Initiative to eliminate backlogs of untested rape kits. Former Attorney General Kamala Harris, now a U.S. senator, announced the award in September 2015 to give law enforcement an assist in identifying and stopping serial offenders. “DNA testing results use a ‘smart on crime tool’ that we’ve used in cutting edge ways in California,” Harris said. “Evidence of sexual assault is too important to sit dormant for months while victims await justice. This grant will allow us to use our Rapid DNA Service Team’s technology to assist more of our law enforcement partners across California in eliminating their sexual assault kit backlogs.” California has touted its progress with rapid testing of DNA evidence at state labs, first announcing in 2012 that its RADS team had eliminated the backlog of untested kits at the state-run labs. Last week, a Department of Justice spokeswoman confirmed that 46 counties that participate in RADS also were caught up on their DNA rape case testing. RADS has caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, which presented then- Attorney General Kamala Harris and her staff with an award for innovation in victims’ services. • Don’t Blink, or Else You Could Miss History in the Making Dodgers is if their All-Stars, plus every other player on the roster, represented the team at this year’s World Series. The way things are going right now, it certainly looks as if the Dodgers have a leg up on the rest of the competition. In a long baseball season, anything can happen. Bats can cool down, injuries can take place, or players can simply just lose their stuff. With the depth that the Dodgers have on the roster, though, it’s looking increasingly more like this is the team’s best chance at getting back to the World Series for the first time since 1988. – Asixlion@earthlink.net By Adam Serrao The Los Angeles Dodgers went into this year’s All-Star break as the hottest team in all of Major League Baseball. The key to the team’s success isn’t Clayton Kershaw. It isn’t Corey Seager or Justin Turner either. The key to the Dodgers being the hottest team in all of baseball is a next-man-up mentality. If one player on the roster isn’t getting the job done, then another assumed unlikely hero seems to step up out of nowhere and lift the team to a victory. The Dodgers are on pace to win well over 100 games this season. That fact alone begs the question: could this be the best Los Angeles Dodgers team Major League Baseball has ever seen? If you ever find yourself smack dab in the middle of watching a Dodgers game this season and L.A. happens to be trailing in the game, don’t change the channel. The Dodgers have the opposition precisely where they want them. This Los Angeles team is one that always believes that it has a chance and never thinks it is out of any game, no matter how big the deficit. That fact couldn’t have been any more evident than it was last Thursday when the Boys in Blue were down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning at Chavez Ravine, but rallied to score four runs and win in walk-off fashion. “That was incredible,” Rich Hill, who started the game for the Dodgers, related. “I saw some people leaving the ballpark. You’ve gotta stay with this team.” The walk-off victory was the Dodgers’ fifth of the sort at just over halfway through the regular season. It was the 22nd come-frombehind victory for a team that truly refuses to quit no matter what day of the week or what point in the season it happens to be. Sure, the Dodgers have won the past four NL West titles, but this season has a much different feel to it. At the All-Star break last year, for instance, Los Angeles was 51-40 and stood in second place in the NL West standings, 6.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants. Not only are the hated Giants the second worst team in all of baseball this season, but the Dodgers are now 32 games over .500 and are the best team in all of baseball at this year’s break. If the comeback victory against the Diamondbacks one week ago wasn’t enough, then the Dodgers did it again last Saturday night to remind you why they eventually got six players onto the All-Star team. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, one of those All-Stars, Cody Bellinger, belted a home run to tie the game and later drew a bases-loaded walk to win it. Bellinger had been slumping and was previously on an 11-game homerless streak before he saved the day for the Blue Crew. Despite that slump, he did what every Dodger does when the game is on the line. Not only did the home run leave Bellinger in second place in the National League in home runs (behind only Joey Votto), but he also became the second player in Major League history to hit 25 home runs in 69 or fewer games played. Jose Abreu accomplished the feat in 67 games. Last Saturday’s win at home against the Royals put the Dodgers ahead of the Houston Astros for best record in all of baseball for the first time this season. Since June 1, Los Angeles has won 28 of 36 games to boast a record that’s far and away the best in the Majors. The team’s pitching staff is first in ERA and WHIP and ranks second in strikeouts per nine innings over that span. Their overall team defense is the best in both the National League and American League rankings. The Dodgers have now won 26 of their last 30 games (as well as 18 of their last 19 at home) and 39 straight games in which they have taken a lead. They were the first team to 60 wins this season, reaching the mark before the All-Star break for the first time since 1974. With their win and sweep over the Royals last Sunday, the Dodgers officially put themselves on pace to win 109 games this year. That mark would beat the previous franchise win total held by both the 1962 and 1974 Dodgers (102 wins). It would also become the most games won by a team in the National league since the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (110-42). “Every night, it’s somebody different, and that’s the sign of a good team,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained. “It seems like I say depth every single night, but that’s probably been the biggest reason for our success.” The depth that Roberts speaks of has not only given the Dodgers the best record in the best division in baseball, but--together with high-end production from every position on the team—it has given the Dodgers the best record in all of baseball. Whether the team is blasting home runs over the wall, winning with walk-off walks, or scaring opposing pitchers into throwing wild pitches to score five runs, the Dodgers are getting the job done. Now Kershaw, Bellinger, Seager, Turner, Alex Wood and Kenley Jansen will represent the best team in baseball at the All-Star Game. The only thing that could be better for the
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