Washington State Plan for Forensic Science Improvement - 2016 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program.

As submitted by the applicant: Washington State's 2016 Paul Coverdell Grant application is focused on improving the practice of forensic science throughout the state. Grant funds will be used to the benefit all of the state's 6.8 million citizens. Specifically our goals are to: (l) Improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science and medical examiner services within the state, including those services provided by laboratories operated by the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and those operated by units of the local govenunent, and (2) Eliminate a backlog of missing and unidentified comparison reports in the I WSP Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit. Our strategy will be to provide funding to: (l) WSP Toxicology Laboratory Division to purchase an Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-TOF-MS) instrument; (2) WSP Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit for overtime compensation and training/development for the Program Specialist 2s and Forensic Odonatologist; (3) Asotin County Coroner's Office to purchase on-line education classes; (4) Clark County Medical Examiner's Office to purchase an Olympus BX43 Microscope, digital camera, and software; (5) Franklin County Coroner's Office to purchase five digital finger print scam1ers; (6) King County Medical Examiner to replace and upgrade existing outdated eight-year old digital X-Ray equipment with new equipment, software, and services; (7) Lewis County Coroner's Office to purchase tablets for staff use in the field; and (8) Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office to replace and purchase one refrigerator and two new freezers for specimen storage. Our grant proposal is submitted on behalf of the Washington State Forensic Investigations Council (FIC). The FIC is composed of individuals representing prosecuting attorneys, sheriffs and Police chiefs, elected city and county officials, coroners, and public/private medical examiners.

The outcomes that we anticipate are an increase in timeliness, efficiency, and quality of forensic services provided in each of the Medical Examiner's and Coroner's offices receiving grant funds. Additionally, we anticipate improvement in the forensic capabilities of all laboratories in the WSP Toxicology Laboratory Division and continued reduction in the backlog of missing and unidentified comparison reports in the WSP Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit.

nca/ncf