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The Information Systems unit of the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department OC Crime Lab (OCCL) is responsible for managing all case and examination data generated on evidence submissions. Some examples of the unit's duties include:

• Tracking the collection, disposition and release of all evidence handled by OCCL.
• Managing the workflow of all scientific analyses performed by the OCCL staff.
• Interfacing with forensic/scientific instruments.
• Integrating digital photographic technology used in fingerprinting, hair, fibers and other imaging.
• Managing and coordinating the field call outs associated with fingerprinting, homicides and clandestine labs.
• Creating and archiving reports generated on all forensic analyses.
• Releasing electronic and automated telephonic results to agencies and defendants (DUI results only).

Information Systems facilitates the release of information to the County and the public and maintains connectivity with state and national forensic networks. Software authoring and database design are also a common work product of the unit and many of Information System's applications are used by the forensic community. Indeed, a significant portion of the software in use by OCCL has been written by the Information System unit.

Blood Alcohol Results

This site publishes a web page for individuals to obtain the blood alcohol level (BAC) from the blood sample drawn at the time of arrest. The vial number and the last name of the arrestee are both needed.

Breath Alcohol Results

Breath Alcohol results are also available on this web site. The driver's license number and the subject's date of arrest are needed to access the information.

LIMS

Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) are the core database systems of most scientific laboratories. Forensic and Crime laboratories have also been using LIMS systems for many years, but only recently have specialized LIMS been available for forensic applications. There are typically two major obstacles when purchasing a commercial LIMS product: price and adaptability.

Depending on the size of the laboratory, commercial LIMS cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. (For a lab the size of OCCL, a cost of $300,000 is typical.) Probably more significant in the long term is integrating the LIMS with the business procedures of the laboratory itself. Too often the lab is forced to change its practice and business rules to match the LIMS software rather than the software streamlining existing operations. OCCL's original LIMS (purchased in the mid 1980's) worked well for the state of the art at the time, but much customization of the LIMS was attempted to minimize the impact on day-to-day operations.

With these two obstacles in mind, OCCL made the decision in early 1998 to build a custom LIMS system from scratch. With the purchase of database software licenses and development tools (totaling approximately $30,000), and the time for two staff Forensic Scientists working on the project part time, the new LIMS was brought on-line in 2000. Successfully in use for over 3 years, the OCCL LIMS system has saved the County of Orange hundreds of thousands of dollars. Contributing to its success is the ability to customize and add features as the needs of the lab dictate. Many of the services offered by the OCCL Information Systems are possible because of the flexibility allowed by authoring the LIMS and business software in-house. Finally, OCCL is currently investigating whether or not to sell the LIMS system to other forensic laboratories.

OCCL's LIMS system provides the following:

• Tracking the collection, disposition and release of all evidence handled by OCCL.
• Managing the workflow of all scientific analyses performed by the OCCL staff.
• Interfacing with forensic/scientific instruments: automated creation of runs and transfer of results from instruments back into LIMS.
• Integration of digital photographic records and images with case files.
• Managing and coordinating of field call outs associated with fingerprinting, homicides and clandestine labs.
• Electronically linking all reports generated on forensic analyses; generating automatic reports on toxicology, forensic alcohol and controlled substance analyses.
• Managing the release of electronic and automated telephonic results to agencies and defendants (DUI results only).
• Recording and integrating all work requests received from served agencies and requests for evidence from internal staff.
• Managing all forensic examinations (scheduling, completion, release) and results for both single analysis and batch analyses.
• Integrating all historical (1985-1999) LIMS data into current LIMS system.
• Coordination of all discovery orders and subpoenas duces tecum.
• Bar coding of all evidence, reports, and images.
• Custom searching and graphing of all (real-time) LIMS data.
• Automatic extraction and integration of LIMS data into word processing and spreadsheet applications.

Cal-ID T/LI Notices

The OCCL Cal-ID Bureau provides a searchable fingerprint database for Orange County police agencies that is networked state-wide to other databases. When a police agency submits a fingerprint inquiry (T/LI), the results of the search are sent back to the agency's Cal-ID terminal. OCCL Information Systems implemented a system a few years ago to automate the response which returned the search results to the agency in a matter of minutes rather than hours. An official commendation was awarded for this project.

CODIS / NIBIN

OCCL is involved in many national forensic programs; CODIS (managed by the FBI) and NIBIN (managed by ATF) are national data networks for the exchange of DNA and Firearms information, respectively. The OCCL Information Systems manages on-site connectivity and networking with these two programs.

DNA Utilities

OCCL integrated emerging DNA technology beginning in the late 1980's, and DNA has since become one the core forensic sections in the laboratory. From the onset, much statistical analysis was needed to examine and test DNA procedures against the rigorous standards used in forensic and legal proceedings. The OCCL Information Systems has provided support to the DNA section since its beginning. Applications for statistical modeling, publishing statistics in forensic journals, streamlining of routine calculations, etc. have been some of the contributions. While the foundational statistics used in forensic DNA are now more established, Information Systems continues to supply custom applications to the OCCL DNA section and occasionally the national forensic community.

Forensic Digital Imaging

Digital photography and imaging have opened new opportunities for forensic science. OCCL has embraced these technologies in the last few years and has integrated them into the documentation and analysis of evidence, particularly in the Latent Comparison (fingerprinting) and Trace (hairs, fibers, glass, etc.) sections. The OCCL Information Systems has helped facilitate by providing network connectivity, imaging databases, and applications for managing the digital images.

FIRS

The Forensic Information Retrieval System (FIRS) is the automated publisher of ante-mortem, blood alcohol, and controlled substance results and reports. FIRS is only available to agencies and courts serviced by OCCL: all courts (clerical and individual DDAs), police agencies, Sheriff department and Sheriff-Coroner staff.