[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 89 (Monday, June 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1412-E1413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. C. W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 15, 2009

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the House Republican 
Standards on Congressional appropriations initiatives, I am submitting 
the following information regarding projects that were included at my 
request in H.R. 2487, the Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.


                      Florida Silver Alert Program

  Account: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Byrne 
Discretionary Grants
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: Florida Department of 
Law Enforcement, 2331 Phillips Road
  Description of request: $100,000 is included in the bill for the 
Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the Florida Silver Alert 
Program, which is a standardized and coordinated law enforcement and 
state agency response to share information with the public to improve 
the chances of a safe recovery of a missing elderly person suffering 
from dementia. The Silver Alert program is designed to quickly 
disseminate descriptive information about a missing person who suffers 
from dementia, so that citizens can be on the lookout for the 
endangered elderly person and notify local law enforcement with any 
relevant information. The program is a cooperative effort among Florida 
local and state law enforcement agencies, Department of Transportation, 
Department of Elder Affairs and the media. In partnership with these 
agencies, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is requesting 
funding to improve the current system and to facilitate public 
awareness/education, and outreach. In October 2008 the Silver Alert 
Program became operational in Florida, administered by the Florida 
Department of Law Enforcement, Missing Endangered Person Information 
Clearinghouse hereinafter referred to as the ``Clearinghouse''. In the 
first six months, Silver Alerts have been activated 58 times resulting 
in the direct recovery of 10 elderly persons with dementia. As this is 
a relatively new program, not all local law enforcement agencies are 
aware of the program or the criteria to activate a Silver Alert. It is 
recommended that printed, laminated guides be distributed to patrol 
officers. These guides would include the criteria and resources 
available to law enforcement when an elderly person with dementia is 
reported missing. This is the first federal funding requested for this 
project.


National Clearing House for Science, Technology, and the Law at Stetson 
                       University College of Law

  Account: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Byrne 
Discretionary Grants
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: Stetson University 
College of Law, 1401 61st Street South, Gulfport, FL 33707
  Description of request: $400,000 is included in the bill for the 
National Clearing House for Science, Technology, and the Law at Stetson 
University College of Law to build and maintain the world's only 
searchable comprehensive bibliography on law, science, and technology. 
This database contains court decisions and commentary, scholarly 
publications, commercial applications, professional associations and 
institutions, and other resources about traditional and new forensic 
topics, such as Identity Theft, Intra and Interstate Tracking of Sexual 
Predators, Canine Sniff Detection, and Less Lethal Technologies. It 
contains 18 resource categories for each of 33 topics in science and 
technology. At present, it contains more than 65,000 records, and more 
than 1,500 entries a month are added. Visitors from more than 110 
countries have visited the site. In addition, comprehensive Cold Case 
and Identifying the Missing resources have recently been added to the 
site. No other such national resource exists. The online database also 
includes a quarterly newsletter which focuses on the latest topics such 
as Methamphetamine, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Cyber Forensics, Post-
Conviction DNA Testing, Bioterror and the Physician, and Virtual 
Autopsies. Funding will also enable Stetson to continue building an 
important reference collection of law, science, and technology material 
to meet the needs of law enforcement personnel, legal professionals, 
crime lab personnel, national security professionals, medical 
examiners, and public health professionals. These professions face 
challenges due to a lack of access to information regarding new areas 
of science and technology. The Clearinghouse reference collection 
allows access via interlibrary loan to physical materials not readily 
available at local libraries. Important forensic science collections 
are being donated to the clearinghouse on a regular basis for use by 
these professionals. Stetson will use this funding for two new 
initiatives. The first is the development of training modules and 
primers to be made available through distance education technology. 
These cross-disciplinary modules will focus on training scientists in 
the complex workings of the legal system. They also provide lawyers 
with much needed education in various scientific and technological 
disciplines. Law 101 will focus on testimony skills for expert 
witnesses, scientists and law enforcement personnel. The primers, 
written by lawyers, scientists, and educators, will cover the basic

[[Page E1413]]

elements of a science or technology and principles of law. They will 
provide practical advice regarding motions in limine, locating and 
qualifying an expert, direct and cross-examination of the expert, and 
legal issues that arise in such cases. The second initiative will be to 
support the federal DNA initiative. The goal of this project is to 
provide training about the applications and limitations of DNA evidence 
to defense counsel handling cases involving biological evidence, as 
stated in the President's DNA Initiative. To achieve this goal, the 
Clearinghouse is working closely with the National Institute of Justice 
(NIJ) and an expert Advisory Group to develop training that will 
provide defense attorneys with the general knowledge of the uses of DNA 
evidence in judicial proceedings as it pertains to discovery and 
ethics, proper closing arguments, case assessment, etc. The training 
will complement other forensic DNA evidence resources developed by NIJ, 
such as the ``Officers of the Court'' CD-ROM, which provides a 
foundational understanding of the science, technology, statistics, and 
other non-advocacy topics. Training will occur across the country and 
will incorporate ``Train the Trainer'' sessions to further broaden 
outreach efforts. Previous funding has been provided to Stetson for the 
National Clearinghouse in the following amounts: FY 2003--$1,768,430, 
FY 2004--$2,968,432, FY 2005--$2,959,930, FY 2006--$1,682,119, FY 
2009--$400,000.


              National Forensic Science Technology Center

  Account: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Byrne 
Discretionary Grants
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: The National Forensic 
Science Technology Center, 7881 114th Avenue North, Largo, FL 33773
  Description of request: $2,000,000 is included in the bill for the 
National Forensic Science and Training Center (NFSTC), which is a 
Department of Justice-selected Forensic Technology Center of 
Excellence. With these funds, the NFSTC will continue to provide for 
the Office of Justice Programs an assessment program to audit the 
capabilities and quality of DNA laboratories throughout the United 
States which receive agency funding. NFSTC not only assists 
laboratories in improving their performance in DNA analysis, but also 
provides grant recipients with an objective review of their use of 
federal funds. Previous funding has been provided to NFSTC, which 
employs 34 people in Pinellas County, Florida, in the following 
amounts: FY 2000--$1,899,822, FY 2001--$2,594,280, FY 2002--$8,500,000, 
FY 2003--$2,980,000, FY 2004--$1,978,000, FY 2005--$1,973,286, FY 
2007--$1,973,286, FY 2008--$2,030,400, FY 2009--$1,750,000.


  National Terrorism Preparedness Institute at St. Petersburg College

  Account: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Byrne 
Discretionary Grants
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: St. Petersburg College, 
3200 34th St. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33711
  Description of request: $1,500,000 is included in the bill for the 
National Terrorism Preparedness Institute (NTPI) at St. Petersburg 
College, for training support programs for law enforcement and other 
emergency responders through the rapid research, development, and 
delivery of customized anti-terrorism training and professional 
development materials and scenario models. NTPI seeks to deliver the 
highest quality content and instructional technology delivery systems 
to meet the unique training needs and time constraints of the trainees. 
These materials are delivered through traditional classroom training or 
distance learning technologies and the topics are determined by and 
based on the needs of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. 
Areas that have been covered in the past include implementation of the 
National Infrastructure Protection Plan, expanding regional 
collaboration, implementation of the National Infrastructure Protection 
Plan, strengthening information sharing and collaboration capabilities, 
and enhancing Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive 
detection, response, and decontamination capabilities. Previous funding 
of $800,000 was provided in FY 2009.


            Pinellas County At-Risk Youth Diversion Program

  Account: Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: Pinellas County Board of 
County Commissioners, 315 Court Street, Clearwater, FL 33756
  Description of request: $300,000 is included in the bill for the 
Pinellas County Juvenile Assessment Center to serve as a centralized 
point of entry for pre-arrest and arrested juveniles. The Center will 
coordinate an array of proven best practices and research-based methods 
of community-based treatment and ancillary services to enable law 
enforcement and social services to work together to access and 
determine the best needs and services for each youth. Juveniles will be 
screened to identify their unique needs and issues, including history, 
home environment and behavior for inclusion in the associated programs. 
Additional assessments will be administered for those with mental 
health and/or substance abuse issues. Case managers will be on call to 
assist youths with residential or outpatient services; mentoring and 
recreational activities; counseling; and aftercare. Low risk offenders 
between the ages of 7 and 14 will be assessed for referral to the 
Pinellas County Sheriff's On-Track early intervention program that 
provides guidance in an intensive and structured environment. The 
program serves at-risk youth, both male and female who are current 
students residing in Pinellas County. The youth who are between 7 and 
14 years old are either first time offenders experiencing problems at 
school (truancy, violence, suspensions, other school problems) or are 
experiencing problems at home (ungovernable behavior). This program is 
expected to provide new avenues and opportunities for both high risk 
and low risk youth. An evaluation of the program will be conducted 
including impact to recidivism for the high risk offenders. For the On-
Track program, outcome rates of 50 percent reduction in unexcused 
absences and school related disciplinary referrals along with a 50 
percent increase in community referrals for families and improvement in 
family communication skills are expected goals. The program is 
anticipated to have positive outcomes of both a human and economic 
nature. Currently, the county is housing over 50 youth a month in the 
detention center for Failure to Appear currently at $178 per day. In 
December 2008, the average length of stay at the Juvenile Delinquency 
Center was nine days, which means for 50 juveniles with Failure To 
Appear violations, the detention costs of $80,100 could be diverted to 
provide bed days and services to those who are currently in jail to be 
transferred to JDC. Diverting youth charged with such minor offenses 
away from the center will save on food and medical costs, and will free 
up space to accommodate juvenile offenders charged with more serious 
crimes, preventing them from being housed in an adult correctional 
facility. Additionally, diverting low risk youth and preventing future 
system involvement aids in reducing future youth detention. No previous 
federal funds were requested for this project.


        Pinellas County Sheriff, Joint-Use Outdoor Firing Range

  Account: Department of Justice, COPS Law Enforcement Technology
  Legal name and address of requesting entity: Pinellas County Sheriff, 
10750 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL 33778
  Description of request: $250,000 is included in the bill for the 
Pinellas County Sheriff to develop an outdoor firing range for joint 
use by local, state, and federal agencies, including military and 
federal law enforcement personnel. The demonstrated need for such a 
range is the result of a survey of these agencies, including DEA, U.S. 
Marshall, U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 
FBI, U.S. Coast Guard, Florida National Guard, U.S. Air Force, NCIS, 
and U.S. Marine Corps which found that these agencies lack sufficient 
outdoor facilities to practice and qualify for firearms proficiency. 
The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners has provided $500,000 
to complete pre-construction requirements including architectural 
services; civil engineering; environmental site assessment; structural 
engineering; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; site 
surveying and geotechnical testing. $500,000 was included in FY 2009.

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