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ANNUAL
REPORT
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CRIME
LABORATORY DIRECTOR’S ANNUAL REPORT
Crime Lab Director’s Annual Report
2005- Far from a Disaster
The year 2005 is destined to go down in history as one of
unmitigated disaster for
the
United States
. The parade of hurricanes
that marched into
the
Sou
the
rn US
coast caused unprecedented flooding of
the
New Orleans
area and
the
Gulf coast region. Luckily
Cincinnati
is far away from
the
eye of
the
storm and we escaped its effects this time.
Historically,
Cincinnati
is no stranger to
the
horrors of high water with lives and livelihoods disappearing into
swirling waters of
the
Ohio River
. The threat of natural
disaster was compounded by
the
fear of terrorism. The war
against terrorism kept attention on planning for mass fatality incidents,
ei
the
r natural or man made. Because
the
crime laboratory is an integral part of
the
Hamilton County Coroner’s Office we have a role in
the
identification of victims. We
also have a potential role in
the
collection and processing of evidence related to terrorist investigations.
Preparing for
the
se roles requires planning, training, and coordinating.
One important aspect of preparation is to maintain
the
laboratory’s analytical capacity. This is especially important for
the
Serology/
DNA
section.
DNA
analysis has become a key investigation component in dealing with many
types of offenses. More
importantly, it is a means of identifying disaster victims.
It is vitally important that
the
laboratory maintains
the
skills, equipment and experience to locate, extract, and analyze
DNA
no matter in what form it is submitted to
the
laboratory. Dr. Owens was
successful in convincing
the
County
Commissioners
of this very point. Consequently,
we were able to hire a third serologist this year to help beat back
the
backlog of unprocessed cases. After
viewing
the
applications of over 100 applicants and interviewing several, we were able
to hire Tracy Cotterman from
the
Baltimore Police Lab. She
joined Joan Burke and Bill Harry in attacking
the
backlog of over 175 unprocessed serology cases.
Additionally,
the
laboratory was successful in obtaining a grant from
the
US Department of Justice to purchase new
DNA
analysis equipment in 2006. The
$150,000 will enable
the
DNA
Section to replace old instruments and bring our procedures up to
contemporary standards.
Dr. Owens was also able to obtain authorization to hire a third
firearms examiner. Unfortunately,
few experienced firearms examiners are available so this position
currently remains unfilled. With
the
backlog of over 160 cases that stretches back months, our examiners are in
no position to train a new person. This
is representative of a national problem.
Older examiners are retiring and
the
re are few formal programs for developing new analysts.
The primary means of learning
the
trade remains an apprenticeship with an experienced examiner.
With only about 350 public forensic labs in
the
US
,
the
number of qualified examiners is limited.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) conducts The
National Firearms Academy but can only graduate about 12 entry-level
students a year. Clearly
the
laws of supply and demand are driving up
the
salaries of firearms and toolmark examiners.
We are having problems competing with
the
salaries offered by o
the
r laboratories. It is only because of
the
dedication and skill of our existing examiners, Bill Schrand and Mike
Lehnhoff, that we are able to meet
the
demands of
the
courts. Even with
the
assistance of
the
Drug Analysts,
Brian
Scowden and Jeff Reineke, who have been cross-trained in some aspects of
firearms examinations,
the
bulk of
the
work rests with Mike and Bill. Unfortunately,
Mike now focuses his attention on firearms examinations and is not able to
assist Dick Shipp in
the
Questioned Document Section. Drug
Analysts
Jeri-Ann Beck
and Laura Kimble have worked with Trace Analyst Mat Wyatt to handle
requests for fingerprint processing in order to free Bill Schrand for
firearms examinations. The
problem is fur
the
r exacerbated by
the
expiration of
the
federal grant that pays
the
salary of our NIBIN technician, Denny Pohl.
Denny, although retired from Cincinnati Police, has been working
the
past two years to enter cartridges and bullets into
the
firearms database. Clearly, with a small lab that is overworked and
understaffed,
the
re is a potential for disaster. While
far from a complete disaster, this remains a serious problem that may well
persist into 2006.
The increase in firearms related offenses has also had an effect on
the
Trace Evidence Section. The
duties of Mike Trimpe and Mat Wyatt include
the
examination of adhesive lifters for gunshot (primer) residue (GSR).
The lifters are used by police to collect microscopic particles
from
the
hands of suspected firers. The
particles are so small that it takes an electron microscope to find
the
m. The Trace Section installed
a new automated system this year which encountered several unexpected
difficulties. With any
“cutting edge” technology
the
re are bound to be problems. It
has taken several months to troubleshoot
the
problems which have significantly slowed down
the
processing of GSR evidence. On
the
o
the
r hand,
the
Trace Evidence Section was able to install a new infrared spectrometer
FTIR microscope system with few problems.
An $80,000 federal grant funded that project that was coordinated
by Mat Wyatt. This success was
indicative of why Mat won an award as Outstanding Young Forensic Scientist
of
the
Year from
the
Midwest Association of Forensic Scientists (MAFS).
The laboratory’s two Evidence Technicians, Starlyne Dumas and
Nicole Wagner, have had to deal with
the
flood of evidence washing up to
the
lab and being pumped out into
the
criminal justice system. Because
of
the
ir diligence handling
the
protection, packaging and labeling of evidence,
the
laboratory processed over 12,000 criminal cases. Their attention to detail
in handling evidence helped
the
lab pass
the
five year re-accreditation inspection by
the
American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation
Board (ASCLD/LAB).
This summary barely touches on
the
myriad of activities that occurred in
the
crime laboratory during 2005. While
our lab is not exempt from
the
problems encountered nationwide of too many crimes, too much evidence and
too few examiners with too little time, our situation is far from a
disaster.
Laboratory
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