Department: Institute of Forensic Sciences
Department Head/Elected Official: Luis A. Sanchez, M.D., Executive Director & Chief Medical Examiner
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Grant
Project ID (if applicable): 4438003
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Institute of Forensic Sciences for approval to accept from the Office of the Governor/Criminal Justice Division grant funds in the amount of $53,199, with no required match, for the FY 2025 Criminal Justice Grant Program.
end
Background and Discussion:
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences Firearms Identification laboratory provides service to over 30 law enforcement agencies in Harris County, Texas. The laboratory processes predominantly two types of cases. The first are “comparison cases,” where fired evidence items such as bullets and/or cartridge cases are microscopically compared to each other to determine if they were fired from the same unknown weapon or compared to test fired items to determine if they were fired from a particular weapon. Firearms examiners have historically used standard comparison microscopes to compare evidence to test fires. The second case type processed by the Firearms lab are guns recovered with no fired evidence for comparison. These guns are test fired and the images produced entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) database. These databased images can be searched against each other to provide possible matches, potentially linking one gun to multiple crimes. The second part of our project requests $52,198.91 for overtime for nine Firearms Examiners and Technicians. Firearms comparison case submissions in 2023 were similar to 2022, but remained ~25% higher than 2019. The last fully qualified examiner candidate was hired in 2018. Hiring for the Firearms discipline remains sluggish nationwide, resulting in the need to fully train new hires through the entire process. While HCIFS has initiated Examiner training for multiple individuals, the high number of case submissions has outpaced our ability to train additional staff as Firearms examiner training is a multi-year endeavor. Test fire cases submissions were lower in 2023 than 2022 but still ~30% higher than 2019. To this end, we are requesting $52,198.91 to provide overtime to nine analysts and technicians to aid in reducing the backlog and turnaround time for both comparison and test fire cases.
Expected Impact:
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences Crime Laboratory seeks funding to provide overtime for firearms analysis to reduce backlogs and turnaround times.
Alternative Options:
There are few, if any, alternative options for this type of program.
Alignment with Goal(s):
X Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
1/30/2024 |
24-0378 |
Grant Application |
Location:
Address (if applicable): 1861 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, TX 77054
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Service Name |
FY 2025 Criminal Justice Grant Program |
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Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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Existing Budget |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
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Grant |
$52,198.91 |
$1,000 |
$53,198.91 |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
$52,198.91 |
$1,000 |
$53,198.91 |
$ |
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Total Funding Request |
$52,198.91 |
$1,000 |
$53,198.91 |
$ |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 10/29/2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): October 1, 2024
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Wendi Welch, Budget Manager, Institute of Forensic Sciences
Attachments (if applicable):