COUNTY STILL SEEKING CRIME LAB SUPERVISOR TELLS ADMINISTRATORS TO HUNT FOR FUNDS.Byline: Stephanie Cain Staff Writer A week after voters rejected a bond measure that would have funded a new county crime lab, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San introduced a motion directing administrators to find alternative ways to pay for the proposed facility. ``There is still an urgent need for a state-of-the-art crime lab for our Sheriff's Department and the county's 43 local police agencies . . . who rely upon it for crime evidence analysis,'' Antonovich said Thursday in a statement. Proposition 15 - the only one of five bond measures that lost March 7 - would have allocated $220 million in state bonds for the construction of a new lab in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, as well as the rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. of nearly a dozen labs elsewhere in the state. Antonovich's motion addresses only the local allocation included in the proposition, a total bill of about $95 million. The lab would be built on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (also known as Cal State L.A., CSULA, or "'CSLA"') is a public university, part of the California State University system. , and would allow for DNA testing DNA testing Analysis of DNA (the genetic component of cells) in order to determine changes in genes that may indicate a specific disorder. Mentioned in: Acoustic Neuroma, Retinoblastoma, Von Willebrand Disease , as well as serving as a cost-effective training ground for a new generation of forensic scientists, Antonovich said. ``The bottom line is we need the crime lab,'' Antonovich spokesman Cam Currier said. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. , an outspoken proponent One who offers or proposes. A proponent is a person who comes forward with an a item or an idea. A proponent supports an issue or advocates a cause, such as a proponent of a will. PROPONENT, eccl. law. of the initiative, said after last week's vote that he planned to seek funding for the lab from the state's general fund. That is still an option, Currier said, adding he is not sure exactly what source Antonovich planned to tap to fund a new lab. Antonovich wants ``to look at whatever avenues we can find to secure funding,'' Currier said. Some Proposition 15 supporters believe the ballot measure lost due to a lack of publicity - the campaign relied on word of mouth, with no money spent on advertising - while others pointed to the measure's long title and confusing, bureaucratic bu·reau·crat n. 1. An official of a bureaucracy. 2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure. bu wording. Proposition 15 appeared on the ballot as the Hertzberg-Polanco Crime Laboratories Construction Bond Act of 1999 - a bit of a tongue-twister, Baca and others said. Currier agreed, but he added his own reason for its demise. ``One of the reasons Proposition 15 didn't make it is that there are a lot of counties that don't particularly need a new crime lab,'' Currier said. But he also acknowledged that the initiative did not pass even with Los Angeles County voters. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion