Letter of Support

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIME LABORATORY DIRECTORS
LABORATORY ACCREDITATION BOARD

April 15, 2010
Kelly A. Walsh
Justice Policy Center
Urban Institute
2100 M St. NW
Washington, DC 20037
Dear Ms. Walsh:
On behalf of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation
Board, I would like to take this opportunity to endorse the 2009 Census of Publicly Funded
Forensic Crime Laboratories. I participated as part of the pilot test of this census, and am
impressed with its thoroughness.
The data collected is useful to ASCLD/LAB and is useful to our client laboratories. The data
will include laboratory staffing and caseloads managed by the laboratories in the various
categories of testing. Laboratory management will be able to see how their laboratories compare
in terms of caseloads, staffing and budget with national averages.
The data that will be collected is not redundant with data currently collected by ASCLD/LAB.
Although we collect staffing data from our client laboratories, we are not currently compiling
data that would include caseloads and budgets.
We appreciate your undertaking this valuable project.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Grubb
Chair, ASCLD/LAB Board of Directors

Ralph Keaton, Executive Director ● 139 J Technology Drive, Garner, NC 27529 ● Phone (919) 773-2600 ● FAX (919) 773-2602 ● E-mail rkeaton@ascld-lab.org