Although collecting DNA from convicted felons as mandated by
Proposition 69 has burdened larger counties such as Santa Clara,
the new law approved by voters in November hasn’t created a
hardship for San Benito County yet.
Hollister – Although collecting DNA from convicted felons as mandated by Proposition 69 has burdened larger counties such as Santa Clara, the new law approved by voters in November hasn’t created a hardship for San Benito County yet.
Since January, state law requires law enforcement to collect DNA samples from all adults and juveniles convicted of a felony, arrested for certain serious felonies or arrested for a lesser offense but with a felony conviction on their record to create a statewide database that can be used to fight crime.
Officers at the San Benito County Jail use a cheek swab to collect DNA-rich cells and send the samples to Watsonville for filing, said San Benito County Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Turturici.
Since the proposition went into effect, all felony convictions through the county jail have been logged into the system, Turturici said.
Currently, the county doesn’t accrue additional costs from collecting the extra samples because only one or two are taken every month, Turturici said.
“It’s part of what we do,” he said. “We take swabs at the jail and the packets are provided by the (Department of Justice) for free.”
Prop 69 passed with 62 percent of Californians’ approval last November and was launched with a $7 million loan to the Department of Justice from the state’s General Fund.
The proposition’s passing benefits law enforcement by allowing police to solve crimes by filtering the DNA data through the state’s data base, Turturici said.
“(Law enforcement) has been able to solve crimes that happened in the past with the DNA that has been collected,” he said.
While the logistics of complying with the new law have had a greater effect on large counties such as Los Angeles or Santa Clara because more staff is needed to process all the samples, San Benito County will be spared added expense for a few more years. In 2009, however, the law will require any adult arrested or charged with a felony to submit DNA for the database.
At that time, the county could have to hire more staff to collect samples from all those arrested with a felony, Turturici said. San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said between 400 and 500 people are charged with a felony in the county per year, and by 2009 that number should jump to 600 or 700.
While the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is working on creating an implementation plan for Prop 69 that includes representatives from a number of different law enforcement agencies within the county working together, San Benito County isn’t at that step yet.
Several hundred adults per month are expected to qualify to provide samples in Santa Clara County – making it more of a priority than in San Benito.
But come 2009, it will suddenly become a bigger priority for local law enforcement.
“It will not directly impact us, but it will impact the jail,” Sarsfield said. “They’re going to have to hire a couple more people just because of the numbers.”
Turturici agreed that when the number of people requiring swabs increases, the jail will need more staff to meet the increase demand for samples. It will also affect the city because it will increase the booking fee the city has to pay when someone is arrested within the city and booked into the county jail, he said.
“In the long run it will affect us. It will add 20 more minutes to the booking process (for everyone booked for a felony),” he said. “The city will be impacted because that will be part of the booking fee.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
