Projects
Field Identification Drug Officer (FIDO) (RULETC)
Crime laboratories and police agencies are struggling to respond to increasing demands for timely analyses of drug evidence. Crime laboratories are overwhelmed with requests and delays in analyses and reports involving months are common. The result is increased levels of frustration for law enforcement, court systems that are backlogged with cases pending adjudication or cases dismissed because analyses are not readily available. Identification of best practices and technological advancements are crucial to managing the problem. A possible solution to addressing these problems is the identification of reliable field testing that could be used by police officers.
The RULETC and JSC will partner with the NLECTC-Northwest Center and the Forensic Resource Network (FRN) to describe the field testing of drugs by law enforcement officers from a criminal justice system perspective, examining the roles of law enforcement, crime labs, and the legal system. The project will consist of numerous objectives including:
- Identification and compilation of current resources, including but not limited to guides, training and technology, and best practices,
- Observation and interview of practitioners in the field, labs, and legal system,
- Identification of potential legal issues or challenges,
- Conducting focus groups with practitioners to identify shortcomings and determine operational application of drug testing technology including potential users and environments,
- Determination of training needs required for police and legal/judicial,
- Development of a plan for field testing of selected new technologies
- Selection of sites for field testing and evaluation,
- Development and design of a pilot test that will include both attitudinal and operational evaluations of this technology on affected groups in the legal process such as police officers, prosecutors, crime laboratory analysts, and judicial systems,
- Comparison of the reliability of the field testing method and laboratory testing methods,
- Evaluation of the impact on laboratory backlog by examining the reduction in drug cases traditionally requiring lab analysis.
For more information on this project, please contact Linda Mayberry
at 859-622-8106 or at
Linda.Mayberry@eku.edu
