April has arrived and with the warming weather my husband wanders off to the golf course from time to time and I get to have my morning musings on the couch with complete stillness. It is a rare occasion for there to be just me and my thoughts with no phone, no email, no television, no music, no playing on the internet, and no one moving through the house muttering to himself. Just me and the silence. I enjoy those moments as they are very calming for a while but then it never fails that I start to reflect on all of the sounds that I miss like the kids’ laughter or the dogs bounding through the house. And my mind wanders through many happy memories. It makes it hard to focus on my CLM message so I’m keeping it short today. You can blame/thank my husband for going to play golf.

As I have mentioned before in the CLM, with spring also comes grant season! I know it keeps me quite busy. NIJ just dropped the solicitation for the FY22 Research and Evaluation for the Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence grant. I always find this one interesting. They aren’t necessarily asking for you to create the wheel. They are looking for new and better ways to use the wheels that already exist. The intent of this particular grant program is to direct the findings of your proposed research and evaluation toward the identification of the most efficient, accurate, reliable, and cost-effective methods for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of physical evidence for criminal justice purposes. I know that the results produced from this grant program are often implemented successfully in accredited laboratories and/or incorporated into our policies. Someone has that “what if we did it this way instead” idea rolling around in their head and that concept could help all crime labs. If you have an idea, act on it. Here is the link to the solicitation. https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/O-NIJ-2022-171226.pdf

I am late with this request from our partner, International Forensic Strategic Alliance (IFSA). They are seeking responses by tomorrow, April 5th. The Victoria Police Forensic Services Department in Australia are looking for information which can be utilized to inform comparison and benchmarking of DNA legislation and processes from international jurisdictions with Victoria, Australia. They are looking to make reforms to ensure that the law governing the collection, retention, use and destruction of DNA samples in criminal investigations and police powers to collect DNA evidence is effective and fairly streamlined. The review will consider the utility of DNA sampling in investigating criminal activity, the need for appropriate safeguards to protect human rights, clarity of legislative provisions and the public interest. The questionnaire and submission information are posted below. Each of our states are different. What you have to contribute could be of great assistance to Victoria.

I would like to thank everyone who has submitted video files and links for the ASCLD Symposium video compilation this year. Unfortunately, we are aren’t certain that we will have the funding to build the videos for this year. It was a tough decision to make because I really loved the videos last year. But with the losses ASCLD experienced due to COVID-19 cancelling the Denver symposium and the slightly lower than expected registration for Boston and Reno, something had to give. We would like to continue to gather your videos and video links so that we can use submissions gathered throughout the year for the Austin symposium if we are unable to create them this year. We need to be good stewards of the ASCLD budget and not spend more than we earn with the symposium. Keep sending me your submissions now and throughout the year.

Our apologies for some issues with links we sent out in last week’s CLM. The biography and questionnaire for Board Candidate Claudine Carter Pereira was linked to the CFSO budget briefing. That has been corrected and you can now review the information from the new link below. Also, the DVI survey to collect information about your laboratory’s current capabilities and future plans for mass disaster response had an inescapable loop in it. I believe that has been corrected. That link is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrgwlGXaNV04JMUUmiNp2or1MZO7RdWbFyT03wnWpgaSccHw/viewform

I hope everyone has a great week!

Laura