The SWGGUN met
in Seattle, Washington, for their
semi-annual meeting from April 6-9, 2009.
All twenty members of the Board were present
for the meeting. Topics and issues covered
during this meeting are listed below.
The Board
reviewed the following proposed guidelines
and then voted that these guidelines be
adopted and placed on the website for final
posting:
The
Admissibility Resource Kit (ARK)
Maintenance Committee presented the
following reports and updates to the Board:
The SWGGUN
Chairman reported the following contacts and
actions since the last meeting:
-
The SWGGUN
Chair gave a presentation and
participated in a discussion on
scientific issues related to the
Firearms and Toolmark forensic
discipline at the December meeting of
the New York Commission on Forensic
Science.
-
The SWGGUN
is continuing its international outreach
efforts as it is scheduled to send two
representatives to the next meeting of
the European Network of Forensic Science
Institutes (ENFSI).
-
The SWGGUN
continues to receive numerous inquiries
regarding the ARK resources; especially,
from Federal, state and county
prosecutors.
The
Publications Committee reported that the
glossaries from the SWGGUN ARK and QA
section have been submitted to the AFTE for
inclusion into the AFTE Glossary.
The Archive
Committee submitted an internal SOP on the
most advantageous method for preserving
SWGGUN documents and correspondence. This
SOP was adopted by the Board.
The Science
Committee reported on work from their
special working session that occurred in
February at the ATF National Laboratory
Center. This work included the following:
-
A report
in response to the February, 2009, NAS
Report regarding systemic issues in the
Firearms and Toolmark discipline of
forensic science was presented to the
Board. This report contained many
recommendations that addressed the
concerns raised by this NAS Report.
After much discussion and revisions,
this Committee
report was accepted by the Board and
will be submitted to the American
Academy of Forensic Sciences Newsletter
for publication, as well as posting on
the SWGGUN website.
-
A report
draft in response to this recent NAS
Report regarding the scientific
foundational issues in the Firearms and
Toolmark discipline was presented to the
Board for review. After much discussion,
it was decided that portions of this
draft needed further editing.
The following
personnel matters were approved by the Board
during this meeting:
-
Ms.
Katherine Richert was nominated as
the new SWGGUN ASCLD representative
replacing Todd Reynolds.
-
Mr.
Erich Smith was appointed to the
Board as one of the FBI representatives
replacing Mr. Stephen Bunch who formally
resigned this past winter.
The Gunshot
Residue and Firearms Function Committees
continue their research and composition of
their guideline drafts.
The
Admissibility Training Committee presented
its proposed admissibility hearing training
program to the Board. The Board approved
portions of this program with the remaining
portions pending further review. It was
decided that part of this program could be
used to present SWGGUN’s response to the
recent NAS Report at the upcoming AFTE
meeting this coming May.
In other Board
action, the By-Law Committee was reactivated
to review changes in our by-laws and ensure
that they correspond to the posted SWGGUN
Objectives.
During this
meeting, SWGGUN members were afforded
training tours of the Washington State
Patrol Crime Laboratory located in Seattle;
as well as Olympic Arms Incorporated in
Olympia, Washington and Rainer Ballistics
located in Tacoma, Washington.
These
committees 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 and solicits valuable
input from the discipline through a number
of different mechanisms during the
development stages of the guidelines which
we produce. These guideline/documents are
then posted on the website for your review
and we encourage peer review of these
materials. Feel free to contact a Board
member with your comments/concerns or visit
us at the “Feedback Forum” tab above.
Thank you for
allowing us to serve you. Board member
information can be found under the “Members”
tab. We look forward to hearing from you and
encourage your continued participation in
these ongoing projects that ultimately
affect our work product.
Gregory S. Klees- Chair, SWGGUN
