APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT TO FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES AGREEMENTS AND (ALL DISTRICTS) (3 VOTES)

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1 April 4, 2002 The Honorable Board of Supervisors County of Los Angeles 383 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Los Angeles, California Dear Supervisors: APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT TO FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES AGREEMENTS AND (ALL DISTRICTS) (3 VOTES) IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOUR BOARD: 1. Approve and instruct the Chairman of the Board to sign the attached amendment to Agreements and to increase the contract sum of $84,084 to an amount not-to-exceed $150,000 each annually to continue firearm examiner services to Scientific Services Bureau, Firearms Identification Unit, effective upon approval by your Board. PURPOSE OF RECOMMENDED ACTION/JUSTIFICATION The purpose of this recommended action is to increase the annual contract sum. With the existing backlog of cases, the contract maximum is insufficient to fund the services needed for the contractors to train new examiners that perform firearm casing examinations, and conduct technical and administrative reviews on an intermittent and temporary basis for the Sheriff s Department. Currently, the Sheriff s Department has three (3) permanent examiners and a backlog of 1,500 cases, many of which involve officer shootings. These cases are time sensitive. The contractors offer their expertise in processing these cases in a timely manner and provide training to the unit. They are also the only viable means by which new Firearms Examiners can be trained.

2 The Honorable Board of Supervisors April 4, 2002 Page 2 Experience has demonstrated that the unit cannot rely solely on the County s recruiting and hiring mechanism to acquire experienced firearms examiners as a means of avoiding the training burden and production shortfall. Implementation of Strategic Plan Goals The services provided by the current contractors support the County s Strategic Goals for Service Excellence, Organizational Effectiveness, and Fiscal Responsibility. Specifically, the amendment will allow the current contracted Firearms Examiners to continue to provide training to staff and to examine and/or test firearms. FISCAL IMPACT/FINANCING This action will increase the contract maximum amount for each of the two (2) existing Firearms Examiner Service Agreements from $84,084 to $150,000 annually. Funds have been identified in the Department=s annual budget for these vital services. FACTS AND PROVISIONS/LEGAL REQUIREMENTS The Sheriff s Department is required to examine and/or test all current weapons and ammunition that are suspected of being involved in officer-involved shootings, murders, assaults, as well as a wide variety of other major crimes. In order for such cases to be successfully investigated and prosecuted in our judicial system, this type of evidence must be processed, and reports of findings prepared. The Firearms Identification Unit is unable to meet its service obligations of examining firearms due to a shortage of qualified and adequately trained examiners. Examiners who are in training do not provide immediate relief to current staff because the training involved for a new examiner requires two to three years. The approval of this amendment will allow the Firearms Identification Unit to continue to offer the highest quality training to its trainees.

3 The Honorable Board of Supervisors April 4, 2002 Page 3 The Firearms Identification Unit also provides support to outside police agencies. A great deal of effort is directed to the Homicide Bureau s cases involving not only routine homicides, but also officer involved-shootings and high profile cases. The Homicide Bureau is under strict time constraints when dealing with the issuance of findings in officer-involved shootings. Guns must be test fired and checked for functionality, and bullets and/or cartridge casings compared. Reports must be prepared in a timely fashion for the Department s executive review. The Scientific Services Bureau is accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB). Technical review is required by the laboratory s quality assurance program that is mandated by the ASCLD/LAB accreditation standards. Contractors have been notified of the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Compliance Program. The Child Support Services Department has verified that the contractors are in compliance with the required program. County Counsel has reviewed and approved the amendment as to form. IMPACT ON CURRENT SERVICES Without contracted firearms examiners, the Sheriff s Department s training program would come to a halt, the backlog of 1,500 cases would increase dramatically. Firearms evidence for many sensitive cases, such as homicides, officer-involved shootings, three strikes, and other serious felonies would never be examined. The contractors have reached their agreement sum cap and therefore are not able to continue to provide training to new examiners, or perform firearms casing examinations, technical reviews, and maintain adherence to ASCLD/LAB requirements.

4 The Honorable Board of Supervisors April 4, 2002 Page 4 CONCLUSION Upon approval by your Board, please return an adopted copy of this action and two originally executed copies of the amendment to the Sheriff=s Department, Contracts Administration for further processing. Respectfully Submitted, LEROY D. BACA SHERIFF LDB:MJD:ES:TMH:EM:em (Administrative Services Division -Contract Unit) Attachment cc: Justice Deputies Executive Officer, Board of Supervisors Lloyd W. Pellman, County Counsel J. Tyler McCauley, Auditor-Controller David E. Janssen, Chief Administrative Office Rochelle Goff, Departmental Analyst, Chief Administrative Office Marvin J. Dixon, Chief, Administrative Services Division Eva Snider, Director, Financial Programs Glen Dragovich, Assistant Director, Financial Programs Lee A. Davenport, Chief, Technical Services Division Daniel Nathan, Supervising Criminalist Patricia Hawkins, Director, Fiscal Administration Cathy Stapleton, Fiscal Administration Conrad Meredith, Manager, Budget Tom Harwood, Manager, Contracts Administration Unit Chron File Firearms: 3/28/02:em

5 AMENDMENT NO. ONE TO AGREEMENT NUMBER BETWEEN ROBERT HAWKINS AND THE FOR FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES This Amendment Number One to Agreement Number is made and entered into this of, 2002, by and between the County of Los Angeles (hereinafter referred as and ROBERT HAWKINS (hereinafter referred as for Firearms Examiner Services with regard to the following (hereinafter referred as 1. WHEREAS, the COUNTY desires to increase the contract sum; and 2. WHEREAS, the COUNTY is charged with the responsibility of providing training to new examiners; and 3. WHEREAS, the COUNTY requires the specialized technical services to assist the COUNTY on an intermittent and temporary basis; and 4. WHEREAS, the CONTRACTOR has represented that it has the professional skills, and experience to accomplish the foregoing without interruption of COUNTY=S current operations and to provide the services, and functionality described in the Agreement and the Amendment hereto; and NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing RECITALS, all of which are incorporated as part of this Agreement, COUNTY and CONTRACTOR further agree to amend the Agreement as follows: 1. Paragraph Six (6), Contract Sum, A The Contract Sum authorized hereunder shall not exceed $84,084", shall be amend to read, The Contract Sum authorized hereunder shall not exceed $150,000 per year@. Except as expressly provided in the Amendment, all other provisions, terms, and conditions of the AGREEMENT shall remain in full force and effect. CONTRACTOR represents and warrants that the person executing this Amendment for CONTRACTOR is an authorized agent who has actual authority to bind CONTRACTOR to each and every item, condition, and obligation of the AGREEMENT and that all requirements of CONTRACTOR have been fulfilled to provide such actual authority.

6 AMENDMENT NO. ONE TO AGREEMENT NUMBER BETWEEN ROBERT HAWKINS AND THE FOR FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this AMENDMENT to be executed on its behalf by its duly authorized officers. THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES By: Chairman, Board of Supervisors CONTRACTOR By: Robert Hawkins APPROVED AS TO FORM: LLOYD W. PELLMAN COUNTY COUNSEL By: {tc \l2 "By: }By: {tc \l2 "By: }Rene C. Gilbertson Deputy County Counsel {tc \l1 "Deputy County Counsel}Deputy County Counsel{tc \l1 "Deputy County Counsel}

7 AMENDMENT NO. ONE TO AGREEMENT NUMBER BETWEEN GERALD STYERS AND THE FOR FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES This Amendment Number One to Agreement Number is made and entered into this of, 2002, by and between the County of Los Angeles (hereinafter referred as and GERALD STYERS (hereinafter referred as for Firearms Examiner Services with regard to the following (hereinafter referred as 1. WHEREAS, the COUNTY desires to increase the contract sum; and 2. WHEREAS, the COUNTY is charged with the responsibility of providing training to new examiners; and 3. WHEREAS, the COUNTY requires the specialized technical services to assist the COUNTY on an intermittent and temporary basis; and 4. WHEREAS, the CONTRACTOR has represented that it has the professional skills, and experience to accomplish the foregoing without interruption of COUNTY=S current operations and to provide the services, and functionality described in the Agreement and the Amendment hereto; and NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing RECITALS, all of which are incorporated as part of this Agreement, COUNTY and CONTRACTOR further agree to amend the Agreement as follows: 1. Paragraph Six (6), Contract Sum, A The Contract Sum authorized hereunder shall not exceed $84,084", shall be amend to read, The Contract Sum authorized hereunder shall not exceed $150,000 per year@. Except as expressly provided in the Amendment, all other provisions, terms, and conditions of the AGREEMENT shall remain in full force and effect. CONTRACTOR represents and warrants that the person executing this Amendment for CONTRACTOR is an authorized agent who has actual authority to bind CONTRACTOR to each and every item, condition, and obligation of the AGREEMENT and that all requirements of CONTRACTOR have been fulfilled to provide such actual authority.

8 AMENDMENT NO. ONE TO AGREEMENT NUMBER BETWEEN GERALD STYERS AND THE FOR FIREARMS EXAMINER SERVICES IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this AMENDMENT to be executed on its behalf by its duly authorized officers. THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES By: Chairman, Board of Supervisor CONTRACTOR By: Gerald Styers APPROVED AS TO FORM: LLOYD W. PELLMAN COUNTY COUNSEL By: {tc \l2 "By: }By: {tc \l2 "By: }Rene C. Gilbertson Deputy County Counsel