09/22/11 - City Council Newsletter

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certification. National/international ASCLD-LAB accredited forensic laboratories include 191 state laboratories, 130 local agency laboratories, 23 federal laboratories, 16 international (outside the United States) laboratories and 25 private laboratories. Due to recent national trends and legal issues, ASCLD-LAB applications have doubled in the past year. The backlog at FEU is affected by the staffing turnover, training, and processing volume. The lab is currently experiencing delays in more than 200 cases, with an average turnaround of eight weeks. Training newly hired staff will continue to impact this number and it is expected to increase over the course of nine to 12 months to more than 500 cases. The new grant will help FEU to address the backlog by paying for staff overtime to expedite cases. EPD has been performing forensics since at least 1959. Currently FEU handles latent fingerprints (including evidence screening), surveillance videos and advanced crime scene reconstruction (including serial number restoration, trajectory, firearm test fires for functionality, presumptive blood testing, advanced photography and bloodstain pattern reconstruction.) The unit handles approximately 120 new cases per month. For more information, contact Jason Petersen at 541-682-2800. Hollywood Versus Reality: Officer-Involved Shootings After an officer-involved shooting incident, people review decisions professional law enforcement officers must make in split seconds, with the benefit of hindsight, and often without having all the facts. Their reference is often what they’ve seen produced by Hollywood, a product that doesn‘t need to conform to the laws of physics, human physiology, or other factors. Senate Bill 111 (Deadly Use of Force Plan) requires the County to provide outreach and education to the community. On Monday, the District Attorney (DA) had a news briefing to let the media and public know that the DA’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies, including the Eugene Police Department (EPD), have produced a professional 22-minute video that provides important details regarding officer-involved shootings and the process used to investigate them. This will be shared with the public via the Internet. The video includes a series of segments designed to debunk common myths and misconceptions, most of which are addressed by national and regional experts, including Dr. Bill Lewinski of Force Science Research, Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Eugene Police Officer Joe Kidd, District Attorney Alex Gardner, and Sgt. Alan Gilbert of the Oregon State Police. EPD took a primary role in its development and production and an EPD officer is featured. For more information, contact Melinda McLaughlin at 541-682-5124 or go to one of these links: http://bit.ly/q0V69v, http://www.facebook.com/LaneCountySheriffsOffice?sk=wall or http://vimeo.com/29282684. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 September 22, 2011