We are two weeks out from the symposium and things are falling into place nicely. This is going to be great! You still have time to register and join your peers in Reno. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. Unfortunately, we had to drop the golf outing from the Symposium. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause folks. Watch for it to return in Austin! The Board of Directors will have their April meeting on the Saturday and Sunday before the symposium begins. As usual, you are invited to attend or you can contact me at Laura.Sudkamp@ky.gov and we can send you a link to our meetings.

The American Board of Criminalistics (ABC) needs your help! Have you been considering the benefits of ABC certification? If so, please consider taking the field test for the Foundational Knowledge Exam (FKE). There is no application or sitting fee to sit for this field test. If you successfully complete the examination and wish to be certified, you only need to pay the application fee, a savings of $250! The ABC needs field testing of new certification exams to help evaluate the exams. If your agency wishes to host an exam, that can be arranged. Please contact the ABC Registrar at abcregistrar@criminalistics.com for more information.

There is one remaining Emerging Issues webinar from the Training and Education Committee. “Pandemic Impacts in the Workplace: Employee Wellness, Returning to the Office, & Remote Testimony” will be online tomorrow, the 12th, from 1:00 to 2:00. This webinar will discuss the impact that the pandemic has had on the physical and emotional wellbeing of employees in the laboratory setting as well as personnel issues that workplaces may experience following the pandemic. The presenters will also discuss ways to best care for employees as we try to return to a post-pandemic world and will explore the utilization and expansion of remote testimony in court proceedings. Here is the link to register: https://forensiccoe.org/ascld_pandemic_impacts_wellness_office_testimony/

Congratulations to the Atlanta Police Department Crime Laboratory for their successful ANAB assessment! And thank you to the volunteers with ASCLD’s Accreditation Initiative (AAI) for providing assistance to the Atlanta Police Department laboratory as they prepared for accreditation. The AAI mentors are laboratory directors, quality assurance managers, and technical subject matter experts that have been trained and certified as Assessors by an accrediting body and have served as an Assessor. The AAI mentors worked in an advisory capacity with the lab. https://www.ascld.org/ascldaccreditationtoolkit/

I hope everyone has a great week!

Laura