“Advancing Forensics: The Importance of Training and Diversity in Law Enforcement”

W8: Conclusion of Forensics – Stephen
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STEPHEN BAILEY 
Good Afternoon Professor/Class,
As technology grows and continues to develop in society, it is understood that anything to do with forensic science will guarantee to grow rapidly as well within the law enforcement agencies. It is important that we have well trained professionals at all angels regarding anything with forensic science. Part of limiting the budget and manpower to meet the public’s expectations is to train all law enforcement officers, under oath, the basics regarding this. Cross training police officers and other related agencies can help reduce the cost and budget plans within the agency itself. Having basic education regarding the process and how to use specific equipment can help preserve time and energy before getting evidence to the experts.
Some things cannot be help by only having professions to get involved, such as, forensic nursing for sexual assault cases, or anything regarding physical contact that must be observed under an expert. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, back in has awarded and passed more money into supporting and recognizing the important of forensic science. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has awarded more than $200 million dollars to support laboratories, research, DNC testing, and backlogs to identify mission individuals, all in support for law enforcement. Form 2004 until current, over $1 billion dollars were funded into this support mentioned above (see reference Justice Department Awards).
Moving forward into future capabilities when investigating criminal activities, education, coaching, mentoring, and training our law enforcement personnel cannot be stressed enough moving forward. Keeping up with training with new equipment and perhaps test kits and having basic knowledge gathering evidence moving forward will keep everyone on the same page. Everything investigator should have a basic wealth of knowledge obtaining evidence on the crime scene to help aid and assist the experts when preserving important evidence to close and solve cases.
When it comes to having diversity and lack of diversity revolving the jury in criminal cases, this can boil down and go both ways, depending on how one may view this. In some states, selecting personnel for jury duty can be pulled out of the system randomly. For example, if a town has predominately Caucasian individuals with fewer minorities, the system is most likely to pick Caucasians due to numbers. In some cases, depending on if it requires a jury, the criminal may also request that the jury have a certain number of minorities, gender, etc. to be the ones to pass judgement on their specific case. This is where it the jury will not lack diversity depending on if it’s requested through the prosecutors as such.
Reference
Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations (CFSO). Budget Brief. July 2022. extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://us-east-1-029060369-inspect.menlosecurity.com/safeview-fileserv/tc_download/5be6a0e62a4ed078c8181345d85dfde761126d8ef76ccfe325f02b5845586ef1/?&cid=N3BC1820E86A6_&rid=9ee7826956e88e40d8c23f92ba3fbfea&file_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthecfso.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F07%2FCFSO-July-Budget-Briefing.pdf&type=original
Justice Department Awards More Than $210 Million to Support Forensic Science. Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice. December 23, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-awards-more-210-million-support-forensic-science
Courts Seek to Increase Jury Diversity. United States Courts. May 9, 2019. https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2019/05/09/courts-seek-increase-jury-diversity