ORANGE, COUNTY OF, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT (5) - 2013

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ATTACHMENT A 2013 -DJ -BX -1065 County /OCSD: The Orange County Sheriff - Coroner Department, Orange County Crime Laboratory proposes to use the 2013 Justice Assistance Grant Program funding as follows: Purpose Areas: Law Enforcement Program Narrative: The Orange County Crime Laboratory (OCCL) is a full service forensic laboratory providing extensive identification and analytical support to all law enforcement agencies, the Orange County Sheriff, and the Coroner Division of the Sheriff Department in the County of Orange. In 2012 the OCCL provided lorensic support and analysis on over 34,000 cases; over 180,000 exams were conducted on nearly 64,000 items of evidence. The laboratory's scope of forensic responsibilities is broad and includes such areas as crime scene investigation, firearms examination, toxicological testing of biological samples from impaired driving cases, drug facilitated sexual assault, and death investigations. The laboratory is seeking grant ftmds to improve and update technology utilized in its Identification, Criminalistics and Forensic Chemistry Bureaus. The Identification Bureau (responsible for crime scene response, documentation and collection of physical evidence, and latent print processing and comparison) requests the purchase of two gas powered portable generators and associated supplies to power overhead lights for crime scenes at night. Many scenes are in remote locations where evidence collection and documentation is conducted in very low lighting. Generator power is needed to ran lights that improve the laboratory's ability to effectively process these types of crime scenes. The Firearms Section of the Criminalistics Bureau in the OCCL uses camera technology on 15 year -old comparison microscopes. The Section requests funds to update these cameras. The comparison microscopes and related cameras assist with forensic tool -mark, cartridge case and bullet comparisons, as well as documenting and evaluating general rifling characteristics. Associated software will be purchased. Finally, the Toxicology Section of the Forensic Chemistry Bureau uses computers to evaluate and examine instrumental data on over 6,900 cases annually. The computers currently in use by the section are over 7 years old. Updating the computers will enable the section to use faster and more efficient operating systems, and communicate with newer instrumental software programs. 2013 -DJ -BX -1065 Page 4 of 29