ANNUAL REPORT

CRIME LABORATORY DIRECTOR’S ANNUAL REPORT

Bill Dean

2003—the year of the “other” war

            No doubt most people will recall 2003 as the year the US launched a war in Iraq while continuing operations in Afghanistan .  While the war against terrorism is in full swing, we are lucky that Hamilton County is not one of the major battlefields.  Our war on the home front is more about the war on drugs and the war on crime.  As the numbers of homicides increased in Cincinnati to 75 for the year, most law enforcement officers agreed that the majority were drug related. 

            More directly, this situation was reflected in the statistics for our Drug Analysis Section.  In 2003 a total of 14,077 drug cases were submitted to the laboratory for analysis.  Chief Drug Analyst Brian Scowden was able to cope with the increase even though there was a major realignment of analysts.  Hamilton County ’s “Rapid Indictment Program” requires that laboratory drug analyses be completed in only a couple days.  The departure of Tracey Cassel to the FBI and Tony Ferchau to BCI&I resulted in the hiring of two new people.  Jeri-Ann Beck joined with a degree in Forensic Chemistry from Ohio University , and Eastern Kentucky University supplied another graduate in the person of Laura Kimble.  Soon they will complete their training and join Brian and Jeff Reineke as fully functional drug analysts.  The war on drugs heated up in our area when we began to experience increased clandestine laboratory activity.  Although we have been watching the wave of methamphetamine move toward us from the West for the last few years, we have been unable to properly prepare for such “clan lab” investigations.  With the assistance of the Federal “Paul Coverdell National Forensic Science Improvement Act” grant we plan to seek training to improve our capability in this area.

            It goes without saying that the increased homicide rate has had a major impact on the firearms examinations section.  With only two examiners, the increase in casework has resulted in longer delays for providing analytical results.  Consequently, they have not been in a position to exploit the advantages of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN)  firearms evidence image database.  Even though we got our first NIBIN “hit” in 2003, the system has the potential to be of greater use.  In order to build up the database, a part time NIBIN Technician will be hired with money from the federal ‘Project Safe Neighborhoods” grant.  Our lab will be working with Cincinnati Police, the Hamilton County Sheriffs’ patrol and all other law enforcement agencies in the region to increase the number of confiscated weapons submitted to the lab for inclusion in NIBIN.  To handle the increase in evidence from shooting scenes, the County Commissioners have authorized an additional firearms examiner position.  These new people will augment the work of Brian Scowden and Jeff Reineke who perform limited firearms examinations in addition to their drug analysis duties.

            The Arson Section also experienced an increase in workload during 2003.  Even with Mat Wyatt’s move from Drugs to Trace, Mike Trimpe was busy with an unusually large caseload of fire debris cases.  Still, Mike was able to get away for a week in November when he was invited to travel to Germany for a meeting with European scientists.  Mike presented his research results on the analysis of pyrotechnic devices and their effect on the analysis of gunshot residues (GSR).

            The rest of the lab has been gearing up as well to improve efficiency and handle the increased workload in 2003.  Security was enhanced with the implementation of a key card access system.  The installation of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in July was a major change to the business practices of the lab. System Administrator, Terry Daly and Bill Harry in the Serology/ DNA Section worked with Evidence Technicians Starlyne Dumas and Nicole Wagner, as well as the entire lab staff, to implement the system.     Other computer systems also upgraded.  The Prism 310 DNA analyzer was converted from the Apple MAC to Windows NT and plans were completed to upgrade the CODIS terminal in 2004.  The DNA Section also completed the over 75 “no subject” cases for inclusion in the CODIS DNA database resulting in close to $75,000 for the lab from a federal grant.  With a total annual laboratory budget of over one and half million dollars, clearly the war on crime is expensive in money as well as in lives.

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