Grant bolsters Glendale crime lab
In this April 2012 photo, forensic DNA Supervisor Lisa Brewer holds a cotton swab that she tested for blood evidence on blue jeans at the opening of the Verdugo Regional Crime Laboratory in the Glendale Police Department. After a year of fundraising, a local nonprofit has donated $250,000 to fund operations at the crime lab.
After a year of fundraising, a local nonprofit has donated $250,000 to fund operations at the Verdugo Regional Crime Lab in Glendale, which processes DNA evidence collected in ongoing criminal cases.
The Community Foundation of the Verdugos committed to raising the funds last November, to allow the lab, which can process 120 samples a month, to operate for another fiscal year as federal grant funds have expired.
“The lab has shown to be a tremendous asset, a force multiplier and has become truly a regional asset with the huge demand, so this funding is crucial,” said Glendale Police Chief Rob Castro while accepting the check at a Glendale City Council meeting on Tuesday.
In 2009, Congressman Adam Schiff secured $1.5 million to open the lab, which last year processed roughly 1,800 DNA samples for ongoing criminal cases, with an average turnaround time of less than a month.
Housed in the Glendale Police Station and run by the Glendale and Burbank police departments, the lab primarily serves the two cities and Pasadena, but has also processed DNA samples for more than 20 outside local and federal law enforcement agencies, with a per-service fee.
A number of high-profile local cases have been solved or bolstered by the lab’s efforts, including one involving a Hoover High School instructor who, in 2013, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student.
The lab has also helped solve local property crimes.
A theft suspect who stole from a car parked in an underground garage in Glendale was identified after forensic specialists lifted DNA from a cigarette butt she left behind, and another suspected burglar who allegedly broke into two La Crescenta homes was identified through a drop of blood on the ground near a broken window.
More than 40% of the samples processed since the lab became fully operational have matched either with someone in the FBI’s state and national DNA databases or with unidentified DNA profiles from other crime scenes.
“This grant will help stabilize the Verdugo Crime Lab doing its important work in DNA testing — exonerating the innocent, convicting the guilty and helping our community become even safer,” said Lee Wochner, vice president of the foundation’s board of directors.