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ANNUAL
LABORATORY DIRECTORS REPORT 2006
The Hamilton County Crime
Laboratory has completed another
year of doing what it was designed to do, and doing it well.
Examinations of physical evidence assist judges and juries in
determining guilt or innocence. It
has been a year of consolidating past gains and establishing a vision for
the
future. Analysts in all laboratory sections have been working hard in an
environment of decreased funding, increasingly cramped space, and
burgeoning case loads. It is
to
the
analysts’ credit that
the
y were able to do so much with so little.
The 16,091 cases submitted during 2006 marked it as a record year.
The 89 homicides in
the
City of Cincinnati also set a record.
Each represents a collection of tragic statistics.
The following are a few comments about how some of
the
major laboratory divisions coped with a daily onslaught of evidence from
homicides, arsons, and assaults.
Serology/
DNA
§
This
became a transition year for
the
DNA
section. Analysts validated, implemented, and integrated past upgrades of
equipment into
the
daily working routine. These
were instruments funded through a major federal grant.
§
In
2006, Tracy Cotterman completed her internal training and became a fully
functioning Serologist/
DNA
analyst.
§
Troubleshooting
problems with
the
new 3130
DNA
analyzer and
the
real-time PCR Quantitation system challenged Joan Burke’s
responsibilities as
the
DNA
Technical Leader. It is to her
credit that
the
re was no loss in
the
quality of our examinations during this period of change over.
§
Bill
Harry also played a key role as LIMS assistant administrator and in-house
software engineer to solve several of
the
installation problems.
§
Additionally,
the
section engaged in a major project of handling a large number of
“Contact
DNA
” cases and evaluating
the
results. What
the
y found will guide
the
policy of evidence acceptance practices during 2007.
§
Even
with over 30 cases completed per analyst per month, almost an equal number
of new cases are submitted monthly. Hence,
it was difficult to make inroads into
the
backlog of over 150 cases.
§
The
good news for
the
section is that
the
County
Commissioners
have approved hiring an additional
DNA
analyst. In addition to normal
casework,
the
analyst will engage in development work to keep
the
lab close to
the
cutting edge of new technologies. The
only problem is finding laboratory space for
the
person to work.
Firearms/Toolmarks
§
During
2006,
the
section added to its digital imaging system.
Aided by IPAC funds from
Hamilton
County
, new software helped establish a reference database.
The plan is to compare a live image from
the
comparison scope to a stored image from
the
database. This system will
augment
the
operation of
the
National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN).
§
Eugene
Banga-an continued to gain experience as a firearms examiner by focusing
on NIBIN entries. He also
attended Toolmark Examination training provided by ATF.
We hosted
the
weeklong workshop at our lab in September for
Ohio
crime lab examiners.
§
Although
formally retired, Bill Schrand continued working 4 days a week.
Mike Lehnhoff also continued to concentrate on firearms
examinations although he has additional responsibilities in
the
questioned document section.
§
In
2006
the
County
Commissioners
approved adding one more examiner to
the
section. The lab was fortunate
in being able to find an experienced examiner who will star in Jan 2007.
The current backlog of over 160 cases represents close to 6 months
work. The additional of a new
analyst will mean that
the
laboratory will be able to do more than just keep up with court dates.
Trace
Evidence
§
During
2006,
the
trace evidence section was finally able to eliminate
the
problems associated with
the
changeover to
the
new electron microscope system for analyzing primer residues (GSR).
Diligent work by Mike Trimpe eliminated
the
accumulated backlog of cases. The speed of
the
new instrument insured that cases were reported in time to be of use to
the
investigator.
§
Mat
Wyatt finished his training and became a fully functional trace analyst.
At
the
end of
the
year, however, he decided to fur
the
r his career with
the
Army Crime lab in
Atlanta
. In addition to replacing
Mat,
the
laboratory will be spreading
the
responsibilities for trace examinations to o
the
r staff members. Drug analysts
Jeri-Ann Beck
will be learning footwear comparisons, and Laura
Kimble will be taking on more responsibility for fire debris analyses.
Katie Duncan in toxicology will be conducting glass examinations.
Additional examiners, yet to be named, will also contribute to
the
effort.
As
always,
the
re was a lot going on in
the
crime laboratory in 2006. There
is no way anyone could claim “It was just ano
the
r year.”
Laboratory
Lab
Director Report 2000
Lab
Director Report 2001
Lab
Director Report 2002
Lab
Director Report 2003
Lab
Director Report 2004
Lab
Director Report 2005
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