This is a reminder that the deadline to submit an abstract for the 2019 ASCLD Symposium is Friday November 2
nd
. Not only is it important to write the abstract well to be selected for the symposium, but this year the abstracts of the presentations selected will go in the proceedings publication in
FSI-Synergy
. We look forward to a very productive submission week so we can have another amazing symposium!
Last week I spent with our colleagues at the forensics lab in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a beautiful place! While I was not able to see much of the island due to the long hours working with the lab, the parts that I did see were amazing! The staff in the lab are really amazing and dedicated. After two hurricanes and a turnover in senior leadership, the laboratory and medical examiner office in Puerto Rico could use our help. This is the second time I have been to Puerto Rico in the last few months to help senior leadership there to prioritize and accomplish recovery projects. ASCLD is partnering with the National Association of Attorney’s General (NAAG) on this project. I was able to meet with senior leadership of the new Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety including Director Hector Pesquera. Director Pesquera expressed his thanks to ASCLD for all the work we are doing to help Puerto Rico. I was also able to spend four extended hour days at the laboratory where we met with every discipline to determine their needs and how ASCLD might help. We met with facilities maintenance, human resources, financial, grant management, information technology, quality management, and every scientific discipline. We were able to work with them to prioritize the greatest needs, and start to move some projects forward. For the next few months, we will be working with them on priority projects. In January 2019, we will return with technical experts and also present the ASCLD leadership academy for all their management/leadership staff. We have made contact with a number of technical experts, but we are still looking for immediate help in some various areas. Please contact me if you have the ability to help in any of the following areas. At this point there are no funds to help with these activities:
·
Remote technical review in DNA, trace analysis disciplines.
·
Remote or onsite casework in DNA, DNA database, firearms, certain trace disciplines.
·
Remote training of new examiners in trace analysis.
|
|
November 2, 2018
- Due date for abstract submissions for 2019 ASCLD Symposium
November 16, 2018
- ASCLD Board of Directors Meeting (conference call)
November 19-23, 2018
- ISO TC 272 meeting in Mexico City, Mexico
May 19-23, 2019
- ASCLD Symposium in St. Louis, MO
|
|
ASCLD is pleased to announce that the 2019 ASCLD Symposium website is live! Abstract submissions (located under agenda on the website) are now being accepted until November 2, 2018. Come explore the website and watch for upcoming events such as, the exhibitor floor plan launch, agenda development, hotel registration and the opening of the symposium registration.
|
|
Community Research and Surveys
|
|
Employee Qualifications Survey
|
|
The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education has asked ASCLD to help them solicit feedback from our membership. The ASCLD Board has agreed to include the link to the survey in the CLM. The information will be used by the Center for research purposes, but will also be provided back to the Board for ASCLD use. The following link is for a survey designed to solicit feedback regarding the qualifications currently sought by laboratory systems for new hires in various forensic disciplines. Your responses to the following questions will provide insight for forensic science educational programs and will continue the relationship between academia and practitioners. They survey should take you approximately 10 minutes to complete. We thank you in advance for your feedback. To complete the survey
CLICK HERE
.
|
|
Footwear Black Box Study — Volunteers Needed!
|
|
The FBI Laboratory, with Ideal Innovations and Noblis, is conducting a “black box” study evaluating the accuracy and reliability of forensic footwear examiners. Participation in the studies is open to all examiners who perform footwear comparisons in operational casework. Participation will be anonymous. We will begin testing examiners for both studies in late 2018. If interested, please contact
footwear@noblis.org
.
|
|
Forensic Research Committee
|
|
|
|
The goal of the Laboratories and Educators Alliance Program (LEAP) is to facilitate collaborative research between academia and forensic science laboratories. This joint effort between the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) and the Council of Forensic Science Educators (COFSE) identifies forensic science needs and provides a platform for laboratories, researchers, and students to seek projects aligning with their mutual research capabilities.
Read more...
|
|
Weekly News and Resources
|
|
Newly Identified Novels Psychoactive Substances
|
|
Recent Additions:
(click drug name for more information)
|
|
|
The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) at the Fredric Rieders Family Foundation, have received funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to develop systems for the early identification and notification of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in the drug supply in the United States. The goal of the program is the early identification of these substances in seized drug and forensic toxicology casework samples through various high resolution mass spectrometry retrospective data-mining and sample-mining techniques. Information about these programs can be found on our
website
.
|
|
ASCLD's research efforts with respect to the OPIOD crisis appear in the following article:
|
|
DEA Updates
NFLIS Program for Toxicology and ME/Coroners Expansion
Emerging Trends Program
Reference Materials Program
Real-time Network
Fentanyl Signature Profiling Program
DEA Resources
|
|
CBP Program Updates
The US Customs and Border Protection has alerted ASCLD to a monthly phone call about drugs being seen by CBP. As CBP provides a first line of defense for the United States, these calls present early warnings of what might be coming to state and local crime labs. This teleconference is called the Scientific Trends Online Network Exchange (STONE) and is organized through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) network.
|
|
HIDTA Updates
ASCLD is currently forming stronger bonds with the HIDTA and specifically the HIDTA National Emerging Trends Initiative. A meeting is being organized in Cleveland in November to discuss ASCLD/HIDTA partnership on emerging drug data sharing.
|
|
USDOT NHTSA Updates
NHTSA has a working group evaluating the existing
Recommendations for Toxicological Investigation of Drug-Impaired Driving and Motor Vehicle Fatalities
. The working group is going to put out the existing recommendations for public comment and possible federal endorsement, and work on related data collection issues.
|
|
CDC Updates
A priority for me this year has been to establish a strong bond with the CDC. A great deal of federal funding is available to crime labs and medical examiners through CDC programs. In addition, the CDC is interested in working closely with ASCLD regarding data collection and sharing that will inform policy makers on morbidity and mortality data in the United States.
READ MORE...
|
|
|
|
Representatives of the US TAG to ISO TC 272 (Forensic Sciences) will be participating in the TC 272 Meeting in Mexico City, Mexico from November 19-23, 2018. TC 272 continues their work in the development of standards related to the forensic science process and consumables used in forensic science.
|
|
OSAC QIC Impact Assessment Task Group
|
|
The ASCLD reps on the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) Quality Infrastructure Committee's (QIC) Impact Assessment Task Group are seeking informal feedback from lab directors to assess the laboratory impact of the following proposed standard(s) being considered for inclusion on the OSAC Registry of Standards. This survey should take less than 4 minutes to complete. For further information, and to review each proposed standard, click the appropriate link(s) below. If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Impact Assessment Task Group Chair
, Rita C. Dyas @
Rita.Dyas@chandleraz.gov
Click below for the link to the QIC survey for proposed standard:
NOTE: Access to this proposed standard and the formal public comment period closes on
November 11th.
The associated QIC survey will also close at that time.
Please participate; your feedback is important.
|
|
Forensic Science Scholarships
|
|
In addition to
ASCLD's Scholarship
opportunity for students studying forensic science, here is a
link
to a website listing other available scholarships. Some are national, some are regional, and others are demographic-specific forensic science scholarships. Please share this information with prospective students you may know. A link to this site will also soon be added to the ASCLD website.
|
|
Please find pending legislation regarding the opioid crisis. This is NOT an appropriation of funding and these bills are only the ones that have passed one body of the Congress as of June 22, 2018. The Congress intends to roll many of these bills into a single Opioid Bill that will move forward.
|
|
These research reports have been submitted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) especially for their relevance to crime
laboratory
activities. ASCLD has not reviewed nor does it necessarily endorse the findings of this research.
|
|
Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
|
|
The ASCLD Crime Lab Minute is distributed through Constant Contact. If you are not receiving a CLM from Constant Contact please send
an email
to
office@ascld.org
. Thank you.
|
|
The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
65 Glen Road, Suite 123
Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.773.2044
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
