standards together so that we have an even policy across our law enforcement agents, agencies in hennepin county. but, yes, i do think that type of training would be helping. i get calls all the time from police officers who simply are not aware of all of the capabilities of dna typing. dna typing has changed drastically in the 20 years that i've been working on it, and so law enforcement needs to understand that whereas 20 years ago we needed a significantly large sample to get dna from, peanutly, for example -- recently, for example, we obtained dna from a murder victim by simply swapping the area that we believed the perpetrator had grabbed this victim, and the lab was able to swab that area where he had put his hands on her and come up with a dna profile that confirmed who we thought that was. >> my time is up, i want to yield to senator sessions, and then i'm going to turn the gavel over to senator klobuchar. as you may have gathered from some of the press, there are, unfortunately, several things going on here right at the moment. and in case i do not get back, i wanted to thank eve

steve redding. >> i am a senior assistant county attorney in hennepin county.le. i want to thank members for inviting me here. i want to thank the senator who was the county attorney for eight years. and she fully understood the power of dna testing to protect women and children and assist prosecutors in carrying out our duty to protect the innocent. i went to thank mike freeman for his support with the dna issues now and for the eight years he was county attorney. dna testing has solved many cold cases. i have the ability to prosecute the first few cold cases in the early 1990's. neither of those men will ever be released from prison. these successes were not the result at anything special i did, but the foresight into the minnesota state legislature which funded the dna lab. it became what it is today, a pioneer in dna testing practices. there are a large number of untested sexual assault cases and the disparities between state and local labs in their ability to process kits. this issue is not as severe as it might seem, but many rape kits remain untested. tw

bring those standards together so that we have an even policy across our law enforcement agencies in hennepin county. but i do think that kind of training would be helpful. i get calls all the time from police officers who are not aware of the capabilities of d.n.a. typing. it has changed drassically in the 20 years that i've been working on it. so law enforcement needs to understand that where as 20 years ago we needed a significantly large sample to get d.n.a. from, recently we for example obtained d.n.a. from a murder victim by simply swabbing the area that we believed that the perpetrator had grabbed this victim and we were able to, the lab was able to swab that area where he had put his hands on her and come up with a d.n.a. profile to confirm who we thought that was. >> my time is up. i want to yield to senator sessions and then turn the gavel over to senator clobetur. and she may have gathered from some of the press there are infortunately several things going on at the senate right at the moment. and in case i do not get back, i want to thank every one of you for your testimony. even

bring those standards together so we haven't even policy across our law enforcement agencies in hennepinunty. i think that trading would be helpful. i get calls from police of us who are not aware of all the capabilities of dna-typing. it has changed drastically in the 20 years i have been working on it. law enforcement needs to understand that we're as 20 years ago, we needed a significantly large sample to get dna from, recently, we obtained dna from a verbatim by swapping the area we believed the perpetrator had grabbed his victim. we were able to swap that area where he had put his kids on her and come up with a dna profile that confirmed who we thought it was. >> my time is up. i will turn the gavel over. there are several things going on in the senate at the moment. in case i do not get back, i want to thank everyone of you for your testimony. it is very helpful even as difficult it must be to give it. >> i thank all of you for your testimony. because of the description you have given of real-life situations, these are very painful let me ask with regard to ms smith, the seven year

bring those standards together so that we have an even policy across our law enforcement agencies in hennepin county. but i do think that kind of training would be helpful. i get calls all the time from police officers who are not aware of the capabilities of d.n.a. typing. it has changed drassically in the 20 years that i've been working on it. so law enforcement needs to understand that where as 20 years ago we needed a significantly large sample to get d.n.a. from, recently we for example obtained d.n.a. from a murder victim by simply swabbing the area that we believed that the perpetrator had grabbed this victim and we were able to, the lab was able to swab that area where he had put his hands on her and come up with a d.n.a. profile to confirm who we thought that was. >> my time is up. i want to yield to senator sessions and then turn the gavel over to senator clobetur. and she may have gathered from some of the press there are infortunately several things going on at the senate right at the moment. and in case i do not get back, i want to thank every one of you for your testimony. even