Thank you. I'll try to be succinct.
The National DNA data bank is a program that falls within the scope of the national services and research directorate of the RCMP, which is part of Forensic Science and Identification Services. I'm the director of the national services and research group.
It is my pleasure to come before you to talk about the successes of the national DNA data bank. First of all, I'd like to point out that it's the national DNA data bank's very dedicated enthusiastic professionals who make this program work. Beyond the laboratory group in Ottawa, the data bank itself and the administration of the act represent a true partnership across Canada, with provinces--certainly with the provincial laboratories in Ontario and Quebec--and the RCMP laboratory sites contributing samples that go into what we call the crime scene index. Some of you may be familiar with that. We call that CSI.
I think credit is also due to the law enforcement and government members who make the process work in the interest of justice. The national DNA data bank assists law enforcement agencies in solving crimes by linking crimes where there are no suspects, helping to identify suspects, eliminating suspects where there is no match between the crime scene DNA and the profiles contained in the national data bank, and determining whether or not there is a serial offender.
It is important to understand that the national data bank consists of essentially two indices: what we call the convicted offender index, or the COI, and the crime scene index, called the CSI. The convicted offender index is an electronic database containing DNA profiles developed from biological samples collected from convicted offenders under court order or authorization. These biological samples are submitted to the national DNA data bank for processing, right here in Ottawa, and the resulting profiles are uploaded and entered into the convicted offender index, or the COI.
The crime scene index is a separate electronic index comprising DNA profiles recovered from crime scenes from designated offences. The biological samples are collected at the crime scene by police and are analysed in forensic laboratories operated by Ontario, Quebec, and the RCMP Forensic Science and Identification Services. We are now well into our ninth year of operations. We have more than 154,807 DNA profiles in the convicted offender index and more than 47,135 DNA profiles in the crime scene index. Comparisons between the DNA profiles contained within these two indexes can result in matches, or what we call “hits”, that are investigative aids for law enforcement agencies at both the national and the international level. The data bank is a tool that has improved the administration of justice by helping to focus investigations, linking investigations across Canada, and sometimes reaching back in time to provide that crucial piece of evidence in previously unsolved cases. This ensures that those who have committed serious crimes are identified, while the innocent and the wrongfully accused are protected.
I would remind the committee that it's equally important to remember how this tool provides tremendous exoneration potential when DNA profiles from convicted offenders do not match the DNA profiles obtained from crime scene evidence.
One direct measure of the DNA data bank's success is the more than 11,126 investigations assisted by hits to the convicted offender index. This includes more than 704 murder investigations and more than 1,490 sexual assault investigations. In addition, we have many forensic hits in the crime scene index that link crime scenes together and assist investigations in more than 1,730 cases.
The work of the national data bank extends well beyond our borders. The international sharing of DNA information from the national DNA data bank is managed through an international agreement with Interpol. The information that can be shared internationally is subject to this agreement, which limits its use to the investigation and prosecution of a criminal offence while maintaining the same strict requirements for data integrity and privacy as would be applicable domestically.
To date, as a result of this agreement, the national DNA data bank has provided assistance in four investigations at the international level. We do many searches as well.
An important milestone for the national DNA data bank was the full proclamation of Bill C-18 and Bill C-13 last January 2008, which added in excess of 172 designated offences to the list of those eligible for inclusion in the national DNA data bank. The results have been dramatic, with an increase in the number of convicted offender collection kits received by the national data bank from 18,467 the previous year, 2007, to a current 32,326 in the 2008 calendar year. This represents a 75% increase in the number of collection kits received in the first year that Bill C-18 and Bill C-13 had been fully proclaimed.
The automated technology and the processes employed by the data bank have been envied by many forensic laboratories in the world. The effectiveness and the efficiency of the automated protocols utilized by our national DNA data bank’s highly experienced and qualified scientists and technologists are demonstrated by the fact that there is no delay in processing samples for entry into the national data bank, even with a 75% increase in the number of samples we received in the past year.
In many ways, our protocols are unique in the ability they give us to track each sample, while at the same time ensuring the complete privacy and security of all samples and data. It gives me great pleasure to report that the data bank itself is recognized as a quality system, having passed the highest accreditation standard for a laboratory of its kind.
I hope that my presence here before the committee will help you and that I can answer any questions you may have. Thank you.