From May 6 to May 9, Tom O’Reilly, COP Executive Policy Advisor, attended the ASCIA 2018 Spring Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.  The meeting was attended by lead investigative agencies in over 40 states who are responsible for statewide criminal investigations, the operation of state fusion centers, and forensic laboratories.  O’Reilly represents the COP on the Information Sharing Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.

The agenda included briefings from United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, ATF Director Byron Todd Jones, and the United States Attorney for Colorado Bob Troyer.  Topics discussed ranged from cybercrime, human trafficking, forensics, firearms trafficking, technology, cryptocurrency, and the dark web.

Lieutenant Colonel Ray Guidetti from the New Jersey State Police provided a briefing on a ballistics study conducted by Dr. Christie Nelson, Assistant Research Professor with the Rutgers Professional Science Master’s Program and the Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA) with support and coordination from the COP.  The partnership between Rutgers and an operational law enforcement agency received a lot of attention and interest form those at the conference.  The COP will be following up on similar opportunities.