Help Text

APPENDIX A: HELP TEXT

disciplines, please mark “Yes” for “Other” and write in the
name of the discipline/s in the lines provided. Complete
Appendix C for each of these additional disciplines.

This Help Text provides information to assist in answering items
from the Census of Forensic Crime Labs. Please review this
Help Text before completing the survey. Refer to the glossary
in Appendix B for additional information on definitions of terms
used in the survey.

SECTION B: BUDGET

This survey may be completed through an online, hard-copy
paper, or PDF version. The web survey offers the following
advantages: (a) secure encrypted system with jurisdictionspecific passwords, (b) ability to store information entered if the
respondent exits the program, (c) help flags which prompt the
survey administrators to contact the respondent to answer
questions or concerns, (d) skip patterns which facilitate more
efficient survey completion, (e) automatic calculation, and (f)
identification of missing responses. You may find the webbased survey at https://cfcl.urban.org.
In completing the survey, please respond to ALL questions. On
“Yes” or “No” questions, please mark the “No” response if this
is the appropriate answer; do NOT only check off the “Yes”
boxes and leave the remaining boxes blank. This will result in a
follow-up phone call to clarify whether the answer is blank due
to non-response or due to an intended “No” response.
If you have further questions or need to request your
jurisdiction’s username and password for the online version,
please contact the Census of Forensic Crime Labs’ help line at
202-261-5341.

SECTION A: ORGANIZATION
A1. Please mark the box which best describes the jurisdiction of
your crime laboratory.
A2. A multiple laboratory system is composed of two or more
physically separate facilities that are overseen by a single
organization. Many state laboratories are part of a multiple
laboratory system.
A3. Please enter the number of laboratories in this system,
including your own laboratory.
A4. Please write in the name of the organization that has
administrative control of your lab. Administrative control
includes but is not limited to control of budget and other
resources. If your laboratory is administratively independent
enter the official name of your laboratory.
A5. Please write in the name of the jurisdiction or geographic
area your laboratory serves.
A6. Please record the year (yyyy) in which the laboratory was
established.
A7. Please record the year (yyyy) in which the present laboratory
facility was constructed.
A8. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for whether there have been
any major modifications or improvements in your facility since
2005.
A9. Please answer “Yes” or “No” to each general discipline in
A9. If you select “Yes” to b., c., d., g., or j., mark each
subdiscipline that your laboratory performs. Please note that
“Forensic Biology” includes both biology screening and DNA
analysis, and that “Latent Prints” does not include the input of
10-print records.
If your laboratory has any additional

If you are unable to provide budgetary information, please
complete the remainder of the survey and have the budget
section completed by your headquarters or another agency with
administrative control.
B1. Please provide the budgetary information for your
individual laboratory. If you are unable to provide lab-level
financial data, you may report the budgetary information for the
multiple laboratory system. However this must be noted by
marking the appropriate box that states you are unable to
provide individual-laboratory budgetary information. If you do
not have access to budgetary information please contact an
administrative entity that does. Indicate if you are reporting
fiscal year 2009 or calendar year 2009 data. If you are providing
fiscal year data, enter the beginning and end dates for your
laboratory’s fiscal year.
Include all funding sources, including both hard sources
(repetitive) and soft sources (one-time special project/purpose
funding). Include personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment,
supplies, construction, consultants/contractors, indirect costs,
and any other operating costs. Do not include costs of
outsourcing to other facilities here. This will be asked in a later
section.
If you are only able to obtain an estimated budget, please mark
the “estimate” box. Please do not enter any dollar signs or
commas.
B2. Please consult the attached Glossary, or review your Office
of Justice Programs—Financial Guide 2009 Grant Budget
Manual (available at www.ojp.gov/financialguide/) for
definitions of each budget category. Enter “0” if no budget
amount was dedicated to the category. Include fringe benefits
within the “Personnel” category. Please do not enter any dollar
signs or commas.
B3. Please select “Yes” or “No” for whether the laboratory
received funding from grants or fees charged for laboratory
services. If you have grant funding, please specify how much
funding is received from each type of grant. Enter “0” if no
funding was provided by the listed funding source. Please do
not enter any dollar signs or commas.

SECTION C: STAFF
For the following questions, please report the personnel numbers
and salary ranges for your laboratory. If you are a part of a
multi-laboratory system report these values for your individual
laboratory and NOT for the entire multi-laboratory system (e.g.,
the number of FTE analysts/examiners actually working in the
individual laboratory not in the entire system).
C1. Report the number of authorized full-time equivalent
positions as of December 31, 2009. An employee is full-time if
they are expected to work 40 hours per week. Count each fulltime position as 1 FTE. You may round to the nearest tenth for
part-time employees.
A position is authorized if the
organization with administrative oversight has given permission
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for that position, regardless of whether funding has been
appropriated. Include all types of employees.

This may be any electronic system or software used to manage
laboratory tasks. If you answer “No,” skip to item D3.

C2. Report the number of funded full-time equivalents (FTEs)
as of December 31, 2009. An employee is full-time if they are
expected to work 40 hours per week. Count each full-time
position as 1 FTE. You may round to the nearest tenth for parttime employees. A position is funded if resources have been
appropriated by the organization with administrative control of
the laboratory. Funded positions are either filled or in the
process of being filled. Include all types of employees.

D2. Please select the LIMS functions that your laboratory uses.
Refer to the Glossary for explanations of the LIMS functions. If
you use another LIMS function category that is not listed, mark
“Yes” for the “Other” category and write in a description of the
function in the blank line provided.

C3. Report the number of working full-time equivalents as of
December 31, 2009 for each employment category. An
employee is full-time if they are expected to work 40 hours per
week. Count each full-time position as 1 FTE. You may round
to the nearest tenth for part-time employees. Include all types of
employees. If you have employees that fit within multiple
categories, use a decimal estimate of effort allocated to each
type of assignment. Do NOT leave any categories blank; write
“0” if you have no employees that fall within a certain category.
“Managerial” positions include any individual whose primary
responsibilities are supervisory. An individual falls within the
“Technical Support” category if they perform laboratory
functions other than direct evidence examination (i.e. reagent
preparation, instrument maintenance, sample preparation, etc.),
whereas an individual falls within the “Clerical/Administrative
Support” category if they perform functions related to the
operation of the laboratory (e.g., quality assurance, IT) but do
not interact with laboratory samples. “Analyst/Examiner”
primary responsibilities include evidence examination, report
generation and court testimony. If you have another type of
position that is not listed, write in the name of the position
category on the blank line provided and mark the number of
working FTEs in each additional category. All categories
should add up to the TOTAL FTEs (j.).
C4-C6. Please enter a number corresponding to the minimum
and maximum allowable annual salary in U.S. dollars for each
given position. If your laboratory does not use set salary scales,
enter in the minimum and maximum salaries for that position or
its closest equivalent during 2009. If employees in a particular
position are paid a wage rather than a salary, please report the
minimum and maximum pay the employees would receive if
they worked 40 hours per week for an entire year and received
no overtime. If, for a given position, the minimum and
maximum salaries are equal, enter the same value in both
columns. Please mark the “No such position” checkbox if, on
December 31, 2009, your office had no employees occupying
the given position and the position was not considered vacant.
Refer to the glossary for position definitions. An employee
qualifies as a “Researcher Only” if his or her primary work is
dedicated toward forensic science research. Report salary
ranges for every listed position type that exists at your
laboratory. Please note that part (d.) “Analyst/Examiner seniorlevel” refers to the highest level ONLY and excludes
intermediate-level analysts. Do not enter dollar signs or
commas. You may round the salary estimates to the nearest
$1000.
C7. Please mark “Yes” or “No” for whether any FTE hours were
lost to involuntary, unpaid furlough in 2009.

SECTION D: WORKLOAD
D1. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for whether your laboratory
has a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

D3. This question asks about the number of cases your
laboratory received between and including January 1, 2009 and
December 31, 2009. A case is defined as evidence submitted
from a single criminal investigation. One case may include
multiple evidence submissions and/or multiple discipline
requests.
D4. This question asks about the number of cases that were
within the laboratory for 30 days or more without submitting a
report to the laboratory customer, as of January 1, 2010.
D5. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for each type of advanced
technology or procedure your laboratory uses. Choose “Yes” if
the technology is used for casework. Refer to the Glossary for
explanations of these technologies.
D6. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for each type of database your
laboratory uses (e.g., enter items, conduct searches, etc.)
D7. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for whether your lab entered
or searched bullets within the NIBIN database in 2009. Mark
“Not Applicable” if your lab does not perform functions related
to Firearms and Toolmarks examination.
D8-D17. These questions ask about the workload for each
general discipline listed in item A9. The subcategories for each
discipline that you indicated will not be asked here. If your
laboratory does not perform the discipline listed in a particular
column, mark the box at the top of the column labeled
“Discipline Not Applicable.” A single case may result in
multiple requests (e.g., one case may include a request for
forensic biology AND a request for latent prints), and a single
request may include multiple items (e.g., multiple DNA
samples). Enter “0” if there were no requests during the
specified time period. Do NOT include items outsourced to
other laboratories in this section. For all applicable disciplines,
report the following information:
(a) Number of pending requests awaiting analysis
as of January 1, 2009. A pending request refers to
any request submitted to the laboratory for which
analysis has not yet started.
(b) Number of pending requests that were
backlogged (requests unreported for 30 days or
longer) as of January 1, 2009. Record the number of
backlogged requests at the beginning of the target year
on January 1, 2009. A request is backlogged if a report
has not been generated within 30 days of submission
to the laboratory.
(c) Total number of new requests received in 2009.
Record the total number of requests received between
and including January 1, 2009 and December 31,
2009.
(d) Total number of requests completed in 2009.
Record the total number of requests completed
(analyzed and reported) between and including
January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.
(e) Number of FTEs it took to complete the
requests (as reported in item d). Record the total
number of FTEs working in that discipline between
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and including January 1, 2009 and December 31,
2009.
(f) Total number of all pending requests awaiting
analysis as of January 1, 2010. A pending request
refers to any request submitted to the laboratory for
which analysis has not yet started.
(g) Number of these pending requests that were
backlogged (requests held for 30 days or longer) as
of January 1, 2010. Record the number of backlogged
requests at the beginning of the target year on January
1, 2010. A request is backlogged if a report has not
been generated within 30 days of submission to the
laboratory
(h) Current average turnaround time for requests.
Determine the average amount of days it takes for
your laboratory’s staff to complete a request, from the
time the sample is assigned to the time the report is
completed. Round to the nearest whole day.
Part h. for the crime scene analysis discipline asks for average
personnel response time rather than current average turnaround
time. Report the average personnel response time in days, and
round to the nearest whole day.
D18. This question is a subsection of D16. Please report the
requested information about sexual assault evidence ONLY.
Refer to the glossary for more information about how sexual
assault evidence is defined. If your laboratory does not perform
this type of analysis, please mark the “Not Applicable” box at
the top of the top of the question and skip to D19.
D19-20. Please provide the requested information for convicted
offender and arrestee reference samples submitted for inclusion
in a database. Call the toll-free Help Line if you are unable to
extract data separately for offender and arrestee samples. If
your laboratory does not perform this type of analysis, please
mark the “Not Applicable” box at the top of the top of the
question and skip to the next appropriate question.

SECTION E: OUTSOURCING
E1. Please answer “Yes” or “No” on whether your laboratory
outsourced the analysis of any type of evidence or sample at any
point during the 2009 calendar year. If you answer “No,” skip
to item E4.
E2. Report the total amount of your laboratory’s budget that was
spent on outsourcing in 2009. Enter “0” if no financial
resources were spent on outsourcing. Please do not enter any
dollar signs or commas.
E3. Report the number of requests your laboratory outsourced
during the 2009 calendar year for each discipline. Mark “Not
Applicable” if your laboratory does not have the listed
discipline. Enter “0” if your laboratory did not outsource any
requests within a particular discipline. If you have a type of
request that is not listed, write in a description of the request
type in the blank line provided within the “Other” category. The
TOTAL number of requests outsourced (o.) should equal the
sum of the number of requests for each discipline (a.-n.).
E4. Please mark “Yes” or “No” for whether your laboratory
received requests for analysis from other laboratories (e.g., other
laboratories’ outsourced samples). If you answer “No,” skip to
item F1.

E5. Report the number of requests your laboratory received
from other laboratories (e.g., other laboratories’ outsourced
samples) during the 2009 calendar year for each discipline.
Mark “Not Applicable” if your laboratory does not have the
listed discipline. Enter “0” if your laboratory did not receive
any requests within a particular discipline. If you have a type of
request that is not listed, write in a description of the request
type in the blank line provided within the “Other” category. The
TOTAL number of requests outsourced (o.) should equal the
sum of the number of requests for each discipline (a.-n.).

SECTION F: QUALITY ASSURANCE
F1. Please select “Yes” or “No” for whether your laboratory was
accredited as of December 31, 2009. If you answer “Yes,” skip
to item F3.
F2. Please select “Yes” if your laboratory has submitted an
application for accreditation and is in the process of being
accredited. Answer “No” if you are not seeking accreditation or
are preparing to submit an application but have not yet done so.
If you answer “No,” skip to item F4.
F3. Please select “Yes” or “No” for whether your lab had
received accreditation or was in the application process for
accreditation for each of the listed accrediting bodies. You may
check more than one. Check “Other” and write in the
accrediting body if your laboratory is accredited by an
organization that is not listed here.
F4. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for whether
analysts/examiners in your laboratory undergo proficiency
testing. If you answer “No,” skip to item F6.
F5. If you answered “Yes” to F4 please select the type of
proficiency test the analysts/examiners undergo. Definitions are
included in the question text. Mark “Yes” to all that apply.
F6. Please report the number of examiners/analysts which are
externally certified by at least one of the listed organizations.
Please do not report any examiners/analysts who are solely
certified internally or certified by an unlisted organization only.
F7. List the number of requests one FTE examiner/analyst was
expected to complete during a one year period in 2009 for each
discipline. This number represents a managerial expectation and
may be more or less than the number of requests actually
completed. Mark the “Not Applicable” box if your laboratory
does not have the specified discipline.
F8. Report the percentage of time spent, on average, on court
testimony and related tasks for each listed position over a yearlong period in 2009. Please include preparing for, traveling to,
and providing court testimony. Mark “Not Applicable” if your
laboratory did not have the listed position in 2009. Enter “0” if
your laboratory has the listed position but those employees did
not spend any time in 2009 on court testimony.
F9-F10. Report the percentage of time spent, on average, on
receiving training (F9) or providing training (F10) for each
listed position over a year-long period in 2009. Please include
both initial and continuing training. Mark “Not Applicable” if
your laboratory did not have the listed position in 2009. Enter
“0” if your laboratory has the listed position but those
employees did not spend any time in 2009 on training.
F11. Please answer “Yes” or “No” for whether your laboratory
has resources specifically dedicated for research, for example
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work-hours or funding dedicated specifically to supporting
research (e.g., supplies, salaries, etc.).

SECTION G: CURRENT ISSUES
G1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a significant increase and
5 being a significant decrease, describe any observed changes in
the demands on laboratory resources during 2009. Enter 3 if
there has been no observable change in the demands. Enter 0
(“Not Applicable”) if your laboratory does not perform the listed
function.

SECTION H: FEEDBACK AND SUBMISSION
H1. Please write any comments you would like to share with the
Bureau of Justice Statistics about (a) your survey responses, (b)
the survey content or format, (c) the manner of administration of
the survey, or (d) any other applicable comments.

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