NCJ Number
192735
Date Published
September 2001
Length
131 pages
Annotation
This report covers the operations and programs of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center--Western Region (NLECTC-WR), which provides technology information and assistance for the nine western-most States, over the 3 1/2 years covered by the NIJ (National Institute of Justice) grant.
Abstract
The States served by the NLECTC-WR were Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. The Aerospace Corporation has operated the Center throughout the grant period. The Center has drawn on the technical skills resident in some 2,000 scientists and engineers at The Aerospace Corporation to render technical assistance to law enforcement and corrections agencies in the targeted States. The effectiveness of the Center's services depends on an understanding of the needs of the State and local law enforcement and corrections agencies. An essential element in understanding these needs is the interaction the Center maintains with an Advisory Council composed of senior law enforcement and corrections members from the nine States. Over the grant period, the Center met with the group semiannually, presenting information to them and soliciting information on agencies' needs and issues. One of the most effective tools developed in the last year of the performance period was an e-mail broadcast system that provides technical news and announcements to several hundred recipients. The Center worked with the California Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) organization to make presentations to criminal investigators, who received "core course" training from POST. The Center made presentations to students in the course about "nonstandard" forensics in which the Center has developed expertise. The contacts averaged 200 per year for the period of the grant. The most significant activities of the Center focused on providing Science and Engineering Advice and Support (SEAS). This broad activity ran the gamut from answering simple questions concerning the functioning of a particular technology to complex design and integration issues. In between were activities for evaluation, acceptance testing, requirements, analysis, and configuration management of technologies that were of interest to the law enforcement and corrections agencies of the western States. 15 appendixes provide examples of the Center's work