The Census of Publicly Funded Forensic
Crime Labs (CPFFCL) collects administrative data from the state,
local, and federal crime labs operating in the United States and
provides national statistics on personnel, budgets, workloads, and
backlogs in requests for forensic services. It also provides
information on quality assurance measures within publicly operated
labs, including lab accreditations, proficiency testing programs,
examiner certifications, and resources devoted to research. The
census of all publicly funded forensic crime laboratories will be
conducted in 2015, with a reference period of CY 2014. This is the
fourth crime lab census conducted by BJS. The first crime lab
census was conducted by BJS in 2003.
US Code:
42
USC 3731 Name of Law: Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968
Despite an increase in the
number of respondents due to the inclusion of standalone digital
evidence labs in the CPFFCl-14, the estimated number of burden
hours per respondent has decreased from 4.1 in 2009 to 2.9 in 2014
as indicated by the pretest results. The estimated overall burden
hours also decreased from 1,660 to 1,479. This change is partially
due to a reduction in the level of detailed information being
requested in certain sections of the questionnaire, including the
elimination of questions asking for an itemized breakdown of budget
expenditures and the number of requests outsourced for each
individual forensic service.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.