This week I will update you on the ASCLD scholarship program and also the passing of a colleague. We wish those of you in the United States a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is a time when we remember those blessings we enjoy in our lives. My family has a tradition that before Thanksgiving dinner we go around the table and share several blessings we have in our lives. Mentions are always made of family, friends, beliefs, freedoms, jobs, homes, and transportation. As I prepare my thoughts for this event I have been reminded through several events this week how grateful I am for the gift of life and health. I am also grateful this year to be able to be with my family and friends for the holiday. I know many of you will spend the holiday providing critical criminal justice services for your agency; others will travel to the ISO TAG meeting on behalf of ASCLD. I am thankful for the dedicated professionals I have the blessing to work with on a daily basis at my agency and also through ASCLD. Travel safely and have an enjoyable holiday!
READ MORE...
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November 19-23, 2018
- ISO TC 272 meeting in Mexico City, Mexico
December 13-14, 2018
- ACMT Seminar in Forensic Toxicology.
April 10-12, 2019
- Forensic Laboratory Counsel Training - Richmond, Virginia.
May 19-23, 2019
- ASCLD Symposium in St. Louis, MO
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ASCLD is pleased to announce that the 2019 ASCLD Symposium website is live! 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.
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Weekly News and Resources
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Community Research and Surveys
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Foresight
Will your laboratory be among the 2019 FORESIGHT Maximus award winners? Click
HERE
to download the LABRAT form and for more information.
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Employee Qualifications Survey
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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
.
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Footwear Black Box Study — Volunteers Needed!
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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
.
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A Forensic Laboratory Counsel Training will be held on April 10-12, 2019 in Richmond, Virginia. The purpose of this training is to bring together forensic laboratory counsel from across the country to discuss the numerous contemporary issues confronting their laboratories. Click
HERE
more details!
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Forensic Research Committee
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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...
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Newly Identified Novels Psychoactive Substances
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Recent Additions:
(click drug name for more information)
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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
.
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ASCLD's research efforts with respect to the OPIOD crisis appear in the following article:
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Due to the success of the 2017 ACMT Seminar in Forensic Toxicology, we are repeating it in Dallas, TX from December 13-14, 2018!
Please share this email with:
physicians, pharmacists, toxicologists, analytic chemists, nurses, scientists, social workers, attorneys, law enforcement, and public health specialists
This seminar will focus on the forensic and medical-legal aspects of opioid use, abuse, prescribing, and addiction by presenting real cases encountered by medical toxicology experts. The seminar will be tailored to the interests of physicians and other scientists involved in numerous disciplines, including medical toxicology, forensic & laboratory medicine, addiction medicine, and the legal community. Click
HERE
for the Agenda.
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CDC Updates
CDC Building Forensic Infrastructure and Providing Grant Funding
As the nation’s public health and prevention agency, CDC is applying its scientific expertise to focus on public health prevention, which begins by increasing our understanding of the epidemic itself and then using that information to pivot to tactical steps to prevent further harms. In particular, CDC has identified five key strategies through which we advance our work to address opioid overdose. Those five strategies include: 1) conducting surveillance and research; 2) building state, local, and tribal capacity; 3) supporting providers, health systems, and payers; 4) partnering with public safety; and 5) empowering consumers to make safe choices. A new funding opportunity called “Overdose Data to Action” was recently forecasted on Grants.gov. State health departments, U.S. territories, or their bona fide agents (includes the District of Columbia), Local/county health departments or their bona fide agents may be eligible to apply. The application will be available in early 2019, with an estimated application due date of May 2019 and an estimated project start date of September 2019 Click
HERE
for application.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Click
HERE to review standards available for comment.
Standards currently available for comment:
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Forensic Science Scholarships
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
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The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
65 Glen Road, Suite 123
Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.773.2044
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