Aspires

Project ASPIRES:  An innovative partnership seeking to reform and streamline criminal evidence processing, management and storage.


Like Hurricane Katrina did to thousands of other structures in New Orleans, it wreaked havoc on the criminal justice system’s evidence facilities and operations.  The NOPD’s Evidence and Property room, Crime Lab and Criminal Court’s evidence facilities were all submerged for days in Katrina’s flood waters.  Following the receding of the flood waters, extensive efforts were made to remediate all flooded evidence; however, both agencies were left without facilities and forced to use temporary structures- structures not adequate for a long-term evidence operation and not adequate to service the volume of evidence that flows through our system.

Evidence is a critical piece of the criminal justice system- necessary to prosecute offenders, secure convictions and to prove innocence.  It is essential to the operations of all agencies in the justice system.  Recognizing the importance of evidence operations to the effectiveness and efficiency of our justice system, the ASPIRES group was formed in March 2007.  ASPIRES, which stands for Accountability, Strategic Planning & IntegRation of Evidence Systems,  is a strategic working group composed of representatives from the NOPD, District Attorney’s Office, Criminal Court, Clerk of Court, Defense Counsel and NOPJF.  The goal of the Aspires group is to create a system of evidence preservation, storage and management that is in line with best practices; including well trained staff, state of the art facilities and the most current technology.  The ASPIRES group is funded by a grant from Baptist Community Ministries and the NOPJF serves as fiduciary agent and project manager of its efforts.

Since its formation, the ASPIRES group has demonstrated unprecedented interagency cooperation around a clearly defined mission- to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of evidence operations throughout the criminal justice system.  This criminal justice stakeholder collaboration with the assistance of private community funding and NOPJF management and facilitation has led to significant accomplishments including:
-    A group visit to Charlotte’s evidence facilities and crime lab to gain first hand advice about building a model facility and best practice processes.  A second site visit to Phoenix is planned for August 2008.
-    Training and certification of NOPD and Court evidence technicians by the International Association for the Preservation of Evidence.
-    Codification of best practices and development policy and procedures manual
-    Procurement of new integrated technology to improve the tracking and management of evidence as it moves through the system
-    Site assessment by Evidence Control Systems
-    Invitation to present to national conference of the Innocence Policy Network to tell our success story
-    Securing a donation of $10,000 of evidence storage supplies (boxes, bags, etc) by a leading manufacturer who heard of ASPIRES efforts through word of mouth in the field.