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2000 ANNUAL REPORT
We, the Washington State Patrol, answer our citizens' call for public safety.
Forty mobile video cameras were installed in Washington State Patrol vehicles as a pilot project to improve evidence gathering and officer safety. The camera installation was completed on time and within budget.
The Washington State Patrol Emergency Mobilization Section responded to four major fire mobilizations in July and three in August. This was unprecedented due to the magnitude and frequency of the fires. These fires ranged from 3 to 11 days, with the smallest burning 7,000 acres and the largest 80,000 acres.
There were two Transuranic Waste shipments conducted under the Waste Isolation Pilot Project grant in 2000. The first shipment of waste departed Hanford on July 12, 2000, for permanent disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Washington State Patrol Emergency Mobilization Section was responsible for transportation safety, first responder training, coordinating inspections, media commitments, and elected official notification.
In February 2000, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the State met the requirements of the standard established in Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013, regarding the testimony of officers trained as Drug Recognition Experts and trained in Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus. This was a milestone in our enforcement efforts to remove the alcohol-/drug-affected driver from our roadways.
In mid-September, the Washington State Patrol completed its first upload of 25,000 convicted felon DNA samples to the National DNA Index System using the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Systems Wide Area Network. Washington's data comprises 10 percent of the national database.
The State Toxicology Laboratory completed the year with 7,029 cases, up 4.5 percent over 1999. In addition, the introduction of new drugs resulted in an 11 percent increase in the number of tests conducted. Despite this, the laboratory maintained mean turnaround time at the goal of 10 days, but this is up from 8 days the year before.
The number of drug-impaired driving cases for the year was 1,375, unchanged from 1999, but up 340 percent since 1996.
A WSP detective was assigned to the Spokane County Serial Killer Task Force. In April 2000, Robert Yates Jr. was arrested and charged with first degree murder. In addition, the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau worked with the Serial Killer Task Force in Spokane County to ensure the availability of necessary expertise and testing through the Spokane Crime Laboratory and the efficient use of our available resources. More than ten scientists from the Washington State Patrol crime laboratories in Spokane and Seattle conducted complex DNA testing on over 500 evidence items related to the Spokane serial homicide investigation.
As of December 1, 2000, 36 counties were fully implemented in the Process Control Number (PCN) procedures. This represents 81 percent of the criminal history record information submissions to the State Patrol. The goal of PCN is to link the fingerprint event with the eventual disposition information to ensure accurate data is added to the state's criminal history repository.
The accomplishments of the Washington State Patrol for the year 2000 can be attributed to its dedicated employees, whose efforts to promote public safety and to proactively support our communities must be acknowledged.
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In 2000, the Washington State Patrol implemented Aggressive Driver Apprehension Teams in each of its districts. These teams have proven very successful in identifying incidents of road rage on state and interstate highways, as indicated below:
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