Spring 2004 SWGGUN Meeting Summary
Through a
process of attrition, several vacancies needed
to be filled this past year. New member
additions include John Ward (Virginia) and Greg
Klees (ATF-Maryland) both of which will be
invited to participate in future SWG meetings.
Ms. Nancy McCombs (California) was elected as
Secretary, replacing Evan Thompson (Washington)
in his duties.
Mr. Jim Carr (Florida) was appointed to the SWG
as the ASCLD liaison. This brings SWGGUN in line
with the practices of the other Scientific
Working Groups.
Ongoing projects that are being addressed by
SWGGUN are:
- Evaluation
of protocols for use in suppressor/silencer
testing.
- Bullet
path reconstruction procedural guidelines -
to review, evaluate and identify the
essential elements suggested for use and to
aid labs in establishing a training and
procedural manual.
- Trigger
pull evaluation of methods and equipment
used.
- Range of
conclusions (currently addressing
eliminations).
These four
subcommittees are working to develop a product
that can be posted on the SWGGUN website for
review and comments from the forensic community.
SWGGUN continues to operate its own website at
www.swggun.org .
Additional projects recently completed are:
- Protocols
for validation tests and studies, to aid in
future research.
- Developed
a DRAFT proposal for Standardization of
Microscopic Documentation provided to the
ad-hoc AFTE committee tasked with creating
such a standard.
The SWG is
encouraged by reports that the material
available at the SWGGUN website continues to
assist the criminal justice system in addressing
Daubert issues in court cases during the past
year.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you. We look
forward to hearing from you in the future and
encourage your continued participation in these
ongoing projects that ultimately affect our work
product.
Thomas L.G. Price –Chair, SWGGUN
