By Susan Dieterle
In the Midwest, as in most of the United States, crime laboratories struggle with growing caseloads, personnel shortages and a chronic space crunch.
Criminalists are challenged with analyzing evidence as quickly as possible, leaving them little time to develop new equipment and techniques that could enhance the speed and accuracy of their investigations.
That's where Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University's Institute for Physical Research and Technology hope to come in. The two organizations are collaborating on a proposal to establish a regional forensics support and research facility at ISU.
The proposed Midwest Forensics Resource Center would draw on the expertise of faculty and staff members at Ames Laboratory and IPRT, a network of multidisciplinary research and technology-development centers on the ISU campus. Ames Lab is part of the IPRT network.
The forensics proposal received $44,000 in seed funding from IPRT to begin developing the partnerships needed to launch the facility, and organizers are working to identify funding sources for the center.
David Baldwin, director of the Lab's Environmental and Protection Sciences Program, says the forensics center would serve three main purposes. First, it would be an arena for the development of new analytical techniques and tools for forensic investigators as well as providing an outlet for technologies developed at Ames Lab and other DOE laboratories.
Second, Iowa State students could work at the facility to gain valuable training prior to graduation, making them more attractive as potential employees. Finally, the center would serve as a regional training facility and resource for local and federal agencies.
The regional aspect of the forensics center will be crucial to its success, Baldwin says. "We don't want to be a burden to any of the states in the Midwest, especially Iowa," he says. "We don't want to be a drain on resources that might otherwise go to the crime laboratories. The center needs to be a regional laboratory that's funded nationally."
Scientists at Ames Lab and IPRT have already begun laying some of the groundwork for the center through forensics research projects for the FBI, DOE and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
To find out how the proposed center could best serve crime laboratories, Baldwin and others involved in efforts to establish the center met with forensic investigators from eight Midwestern states and four federal agencies in May.
The crime-lab representatives gave input on the types of research, services and training that would be most helpful to their facilities and suggested funding sources for the proposed center.
Carl Bessman, a criminalist with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, says the research assistance his crime lab has already received from Ames Lab and IPRT has proven valuable. "Ultimately, applying good science to the casework is our most important responsibility," he says.
For more information:
David Baldwin, (515) 294-2069
dbaldwin@ameslab.gov
Last revision: 9/15/00 sd
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