Snow! I’m on the couch this Saturday morning with my coffee and staring out the window at a couple inches of snow that arrived overnight. It was 60° F here yesterday afternoon and the high today won’t even make it to 30°. What a flip from the spring weather I was enjoying. The good news is that I can still see the daffodils poking out of the snow and the weather forecast shows 51° for tomorrow.
Unlike the weather, things have been fairly calm but very busy in the ASCLD arena. We are just six weeks out from the symposium in Reno so the Symposium Planning Committee has been focused on completing preparations. We have ordered some new clothing items for the ASCLD store so make sure you drop by and take a look. The Nominating and Awards Committee has presented a slate of candidates for the Board of Directors elections. We will announce those names soon and provide information about each candidate for your review. The committee is also finalizing the list of award recipients. The Ethics and Bylaws Committee has a few changes to the bylaws for consideration and voting by the membership at the Business Meeting. Those ballots are being prepared and the bylaws information will also be published before the symposium for your review. The Board members are all busy compiling their committee activity summaries for publication into the Executive Education Digest that will be released in a couple of weeks, as well. And we continue to make progress in narrowing down the location of the 2026 symposium. Busy! Busy! Busy! But fun!
Grant season is upon us. The solicitations have started to fill my inbox and my head full of ideas for applications. For those of you who do not follow the Advocacy Committee and Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations (CFSO) news closely, the federal grant authorization and appropriation legislation takes great amount of work and negotiations to maximize the benefit of the forensic science community. The Coverdell, Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, and DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction grants all come from the Justice for All Act (JFAA). CFSO needs our help. This year, JFAA is being reauthorized and CFSO has requested that the reauthorization for Coverdell to increase from $35M to $50M. It has come to their attention that many Members of the Senate and House, specifically on the Judiciary Committee have opposed the increase due to fiscal matters. The Advocacy Committee and CFSO are requesting that we send letters or make phone calls to legislators in support of the upcoming 2022 JFAA Reauthorization. The increased Coverdell funding is at stake and time is of the essence. Please see the letter from CFSO below explaining the call to action. Also attached below is a template for a support letter that you can use. If you receive any feedback from your legislator(s), please let CFSO Chair Matthew Gamette (matthew.gamette@isp.idaho.gov) know. If you should have any questions, please call our lobbyist Beth Lavach at 703-622-8752 or send her an email at bethlavach@elsandassociates.com. And speaking of CFSO, they have released a white paper on Medical Examiner and NamUs Legislation that can be found below and on their website. They also released a Q&A format document from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) about the Forensic Pathologist staffing crisis in the United States. That paper is also below and available on the CFSO website, https://thecfso.org/.
We are now collecting videos from you to be compiled into the opening videos at the symposium highlighting the successes, news, and GOOD things related to Crime Labs.
You can add video at this link:
I hope everyone has a great week!
Laura
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ASCLD monthly board meeting
March 18th at 1pm EST. As a reminder, any interested members are welcome to attend
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Weekly News and Resources |
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Join us for the ASCLD Symposium 2022 |
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Join Your Friends at the ASCLD Symposium’s 2022 Off-Site Event!
Introducing the 2022 Symposium Offsite Event: James Bond Casino Night at the National Automobile Museum! Filled with classic cars, poker games, and your 007-inspired attire, this evening will be an excellent way to wrap up the Symposium. Tickets are only $45 for attendees and guests! But don't wait, the offsite event always sells out fast so register now to secure yours.
Thank you to our events sponsors ANAB and JusticeTrax.
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The Next Lightning Talk is Here!
The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee is proud to announce the next episode of a virtual “Lightning Talks” series to highlight new and emerging research in all areas of forensic science. Each episode will feature three short talks given by practitioners, researchers, and/or students. The next episode will be held on Thursday March 24th at 1:00 EST and will focus on Interlaboratory and Black Box Studies. It will feature talks by Jose Almirall from Florida International University on the importance of interlaboratory studies, Heidi Eldridge from the Research Triangle Institute on latent fingerprinting black box studies, and Philip Dunn from LGC Group on isotope ratio proficiency testing. The live event is limited to 100 people. To register, visit https://www.ascld.org/forensic-research-committee/.
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Thank you to our 2022 Gold Sponsors: |
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Please send all CLM submissions to our new electronic form!
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Please continue to tag your photos on social media with the hashtag #ASCLDfun |
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Opt Out.
ASCLD sells your email information to vendors for marketing and promotional material purposes. You may ‘opt-out’ of receiving vendor information not directly related to ASCLD by emailing executivedirector@ascld.org. If you do not opt out then your acceptance of this Agreement will constitute your affirmative consent to receiving marketing and promotional material from ASCLD.
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Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
For More Information, Click the LOGO below:
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Please read the following white papers: |
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There are many standards open for comment on the ASB website. Be sure to check them out and provide your valuable input!
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Safety Topics for your Lab |
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Health and Safety in the Laboratory series by Jane Northup PhD, RI State Crime Laboratory
Click on links below for articles
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ANAB Trainings
With the ability to reach wider audiences, we are expanding offerings of current courses in Spanish.
The following courses will be available live online in Spanish:
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Forensic Technical Assessor
- Forensic ISO/IEC 17025 Internal Auditor
- Risk-based Thinking for Forensic Service Providers
We are also excited to introduce our courses: Laboratories and Inspection:
Basic Statistics for Laboratories and Inspection Bodies. This course will introduce basic statistical techniques for collecting, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data. Participants will strengthen their knowledge base of statistical techniques and their application to ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025, and build confidence in the validity and reliability of their results. More..
Verification and Validation for Laboratories and Inspection Bodies. This course provides an introduction to the validation and verification of analytical methods and the common elements of a validation or verification plan. In addition, a general approach to performing a validation or verification will be reviewed along with ISO/IEC 17025 requirements for validation and verification of methods. More…
Webinars:
We continue our monthly Webinars and stay tuned for information about upcoming Feature Sessions.
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The National Association of Forensic Laboratory Counsel (NAFLC)
will hold its 2022 Annual Training and Meeting at the Southwestern Institute for Forensic Sciences (SWIFS) in Dallas, TX from May 18 through 20, 2022. Non-members are encouraged to attend, but you MUST be an attorney advising a public forensic laboratory that primarily provides services to government or law enforcement agencies to be admitted to this training. Additional information, including the agenda, registration form, and hotel reservation link, may be found on NAFLC's website: https://www.naflc.org/meeting-and-events.
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Donations to ASCLD can now be made online! This is a great way to honor the memory of a forensic colleague, to commemorate a life event for that person who has everything, or to otherwise assist in supporting the tireless efforts of the ASCLD organization in the pursuit of excellence in forensic science management. The donation page can be accessed by clicking HERE or by visiting the ASCLD website and clicking on "Donate to ASCLD" under the "Member Site" tab (this donation page is accessible even to non-members). Please consider donating and do share this information with anyone you think might be interested.
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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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