REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on a Memorandum of Understanding with the County of Santa Clara Crime Laboratory for Major Case Work [Council Pillar: Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure]
Report
BACKGROUND
Since the early 1980's, each law enforcement agency within Santa Clara County entered into separate agreements with Santa Clara County District Attorney's Crime Laboratory (Crime Laboratory) to conduct examinations of forensic evidence. The forensic examinations have included controlled substance analysis, firearms/tool marks, forensic biology, forensic toxicology, latent print processing, questioned documents, trace evidence, digital and multi-media evidence (e.g. computer forensics, audio and video analysis) and crime scene analysis (including bloodstain pattern analysis and footwear/tire impression evidence).
In 1995, the method of billing changed to minimize the impact of a sudden spike in major cases and to allow agencies to accurately budget for crime laboratory services. The new method calculated a five-year average of cases submitted to create a percentage of use compared to each agency in the county. This percentage of use is utilized to calculate the annual cost for each agency.
The last Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County of Santa Clara and the City for major case work expired on January 1, 2020.
DISCUSSION
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Crime Laboratory is a nationally accredited forensic laboratory servicing all criminal justice agencies within Santa Clara County.
The Crime Laboratory provides an integral service to support the investigation and prosecution of crimes that include, but are not limited to, homicide, sexual assault, crimes against children, other violent crime and property crime. In addition to completing forensic examinations, the Crime Laboratory interprets and analyzes results, provides expert testimony and manages reports pertaining to proficiency testin...
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