Bylaws
of the Scientific Working Group on Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (SWGSTAIN)
Introduction
During
the past 14 years, the FBI Laboratory has organized and sponsored
scientific working groups. The purpose of these working groups is
to establish professional forums in which federal, state, and local
government experts, together with academic and commercial scientists,
can address operational issues arising in specific forensic disciplines.
The FBI Laboratory coordinated a meeting
to explore organizing a scientific working group in bloodstain pattern
analysis. This meeting was held at the FBI Academy in Quantico,
Virginia, on March 2628, 2002, and convened a core group of
recognized bloodstain pattern analysis experts from the federal,
state, and local governments as well as private practitioners in
the United States and Canada.
After affirming the interest level in the bloodstain
pattern analysis community for organizing a scientific working group
and in compliance with the document entitled Scientific Working
Groups published in Forensic Science Communications www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/swgroups.htm,
the Scientific Working Group on Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (SWGSTAIN),
drafted and unanimously ratified the following bylaws.
I.
Objectives
The Scientific Working Group on Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
(hereinafter referred to as SWGSTAIN) shall serve as a professional
forum in which bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) practitioners,
and practitioners from related fields, can share, discuss, and evaluate
methods, techniques, protocols, quality assurance, education, and
research relating to BPA. This forum shall address substantive and
operational issues within the field of BPA and shall work to build
consensus-based, or so-called best practice, guidelines
for the enhancement of BPA.
II.
Membership
A.
The membership of SWGSTAIN shall consist of a maximum of 50 individuals
and shall consist both of an executive board and a body of regular
members. The total number of members comprising the group shall
depend, at least in part, upon the number of Subcommittees empanelled
by the SWGSTAIN Chair (see description of SWGSTAIN Chair under section
B). The term member shall be used to designate and describe
both Executive Board and regular members.
B.
The SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall consist of the SWGSTAIN Chair,
the SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair, the SWGSTAIN Executive Secretary, and five
regular members. All members of the SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall
have voting privileges with the exception of the SWGSTAIN Executive
Secretary. The SWGSTAIN Chair has full voting privileges, except
on routine business meeting motions where his/her vote will be used
to break ties.
1. The SWGSTAIN
Chair shall be a representative from the FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation) and shall be appointed by the FBI Director or his/her
designee.
2. The SWGSTAIN
Vice-Chair shall be a non-FBI SWGSTAIN regular member and shall
be appointed by the SWGSTAIN Chair and ratified by a simple majority
vote of the regular members at a planned SWGSTAIN meeting.
3. The SWGSTAIN
Executive Secretary shall be appointed by the SWGSTAIN Chair.
4. The five
SWGSTAIN regular members of the SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall
be appointed by the SWGSTAIN Chair and ratified individually by
a simple majority vote of the regular members at a planned SWGSTAIN
meeting.
C. Regular
members of SWGSTAIN shall be appointed by the SWGSTAIN Chair upon
recommendation by the SWGSTAIN Membership Committee.
1. The SWGSTAIN
Membership Committee shall consist of the SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair
and two SWGSTAIN Executive Board regular members. The SWGSTAIN
Membership Committee shall receive nominations in a form and manner
determined by the SWGSTAIN Chair and make recommendations to the
SWGSTAIN Chair for final consideration for regular member status.
The SWGSTAIN Membership Committee shall, to the extent possible,
consider ancillary information such as profession (law enforcement,
scientist, consultant, etc.), geography (regional, international,
etc.), as well as affiliation (local, state, or federal government
agencies; private; academic; etc.) in evaluating its potential
membership candidates.
2. SWGSTAIN
Membership resides with the individual and not his/her agency
or affiliation.
3. Regular
members of SWGSTAIN shall have voting privileges for the purpose
of ratifying the SWGSTAIN draft documents and other work products,
Bylaw amendments, Executive Board members, and other business
as deemed necessary by the SWGSTAIN Chair.
D. SWGSTAIN
shall establish an American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
(ASCLD) Representative. This representative will be an ASCLD member,
appointed by the SWGSTAIN Chair, and ratified by a simple majority
vote of the regular members at a planned SWGSTAIN meeting. The ASCLD
Representative shall not be considered a member of SWGSTAIN and
shall not be granted voting privileges.
E. The SWGSTAIN
Chair may offer ex officio membership to a representative
from an agency or organization related to BPA and ratified individually
by a simple majority vote of the regular members at a planned SWGSTAIN
meeting. Ex officio members shall not be considered regular
members of SWGSTAIN and shall not be granted voting privileges.
F.
The SWGSTAIN Chair may invite guests to participate in SWGSTAIN
meetings. Invited guests shall not be considered members of SWGSTAIN
and shall not be granted voting privileges.
G.
The term of appointment for the SWGSTAIN Chair shall be at the discretion
of the FBI Director or his/her designee. The term of appointment
for the SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair, SWGSTAIN Executive Secretary, and SWGSTAIN
Executive Board regular members shall be three years. Regular members
of SWGSTAIN shall be appointed for three year terms. Subsequent
terms of appointment for all member positions shall be three years
with no limitation of the number of terms served either consecutively
or in total.
H.
The vacancy of a SWGSTAIN membership position occurs upon the death
of a SWGSTAIN member, the resignation of a SWGSTAIN member from
SWGSTAIN, or the completion of a SWGSTAIN membership term. Should
a SWGSTAIN member fall out of good standing or be absent from three
consecutive SWGSTAIN meetings without good cause, or in other extreme
cases of irregular attendance, the SWGSTAIN Chair, after ratification
by a simple majority vote of the regular members at a planned SWGSTAIN
meeting, may revoke SWGSTAIN membership status from the offending
member. Any SWGSTAIN membership vacancy shall be filled in the manner
prescribed for initial appointment and said SWGSTAIN membership
shall extend through the remainder of the active term initiated
by the originally appointed SWGSTAIN member.
III.
Officers
and Duties
A.
The SWGSTAIN Chair shall manage the activities of the SWGSTAIN Executive
Board and perform all duties incident to the office of SWGSTAIN
Chair, including but not necessarily limited to the following: scheduling
SWGSTAIN meetings, preparing SWGSTAIN meeting agendas, presiding
at SWGSTAIN meetings, appointing SWGSTAIN Executive Board Members,
appointing SWGSTAIN Regular Members, establishing SWGSTAIN committees,
inviting guests to SWGSTAIN meetings, assigning tasks to SWGSTAIN
members and/or SWGSTAIN Subcommittees, acting as the principle spokesperson
for SWGSTAIN, and forwarding appropriate SWGSTAIN recommendations
on to the FBI Director as necessary.
B.
The SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair will assist the SWGSTAIN Chair in his/her
duties as needed. The SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair, in the temporary absence
of the SWGSTAIN Chair, shall be authorized to conduct SWGSTAIN business,
to include presiding over SWGSTAIN meetings in accordance with the
agenda set by the SWGSTAIN Chair. The SWGSTAIN Vice-Chair will serve
as the Chair of the SWGSTAIN Membership Committee.
C.
The SWGSTAIN Executive Secretary shall perform such duties as may
be assigned by the SWGSTAIN Chair and shall perform all administrative
duties incident to the office including, but not necessarily limited
to the following: preparing summary minutes of SWGSTAIN meetings,
maintaining records of SWGSTAIN meetings and bylaws, and keeping
custody of SWGSTAIN records. The SWGSTAIN Executive Secretary may
be assisted by staff provided by the FBI if necessary.
D.
The SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall review and evaluate all recommendations
made by SWGSTAIN Subcommittees and vote on such recommendations.
A unanimous vote of the SWGSTAIN Executive Board members shall constitute
an act of the Board. A vote by the SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall
be considered the final action on any SWGSTAIN Subcommittee recommendation.
IV.
Meetings
A. SWGSTAIN
shall meet a minimum of one time, but no more than twice, per calendar
year. SWGSTAIN meetings are dependent on available FBI resources.
B.
All SWGSTAIN members shall be notified of SWGSTAIN meetings as far
in advance of the meeting date as possible; however, in all cases,
no less than two weeks advance notice of a planned SWGSTAIN meeting
shall be given to all SWGSTAIN members.
C.
The FBI shall make travel and/or lodging arrangements for all SWGSTAIN
members. In accordance with federal regulations, the FBI cannot
make travel arrangements for non-United States citizens; however,
the FBI shall make all other arrangements for such SWGSTAIN members.
The FBI shall not be responsible for the travel and lodging arrangements
for SWGSTAIN members to attend SWGSTAIN meetings planned in conjunction
with professional meetings that are open to the public as a part
of such forums.
D.
The SWGSTAIN Executive Board and SWGSTAIN regular members shall
receive no compensation or honoraria in lieu of salary or wages
for their time spent attending SWGSTAIN meetings or working on SWGSTAIN
business.
V.
Subcommittees
A.
The SWGSTAIN Chair may empanel a SWGSTAIN Subcommittee to address
a specific topic or set of issues identified to be important to
the group or the general discipline of BPA. The SWGSTAIN Chair shall
designate a SWGSTAIN member to serve as the Chair of that SWGSTAIN
Subcommittee. The SWGSTAIN Chair will appoint, upon recommendation
from the SWGSTAIN Subcommittee Chair, a minimum of two additional
SWGSTAIN regular members to serve on said SWGSTAIN Subcommittee.
The SWGSTAIN Subcommittee Chair shall manage the activities of the
Subcommittee and perform all duties incident to the office of a
SWGSTAIN Subcommittee Chair, including but not necessarily limited
to the following: preparing Subcommittee meeting agendas, presiding
at Subcommittee meetings, preparing summary minutes of Subcommittee
meetings, maintaining records of Subcommittee meetings, preparing
Subcommittee task documents, acting as spokesperson for the Subcommittee,
and forwarding appropriate draft documents and other work products
to the SWGSTAIN Chair and SWGSTAIN membership.
B.
Upon completion of an assigned task(s)
to include a draft document or other work product, the SWGSTAIN
Subcommittee Chair shall advise the SWGSTAIN Chair and request to
be placed on the agenda of a planned SWGSTAIN meeting. The SWGSTAIN
Subcommittee Chair shall report to the SWGSTAIN membership during
a planned SWGSTAIN meeting on the Subcommittees draft document
or other work product.
C.
Upon completion of all the duties assigned it by the SWGSTAIN Chair,
and absent any additional emerging tasks, a SWGSTAIN Subcommittee
shall be indefinitely suspended or dissolved. The SWGSTAIN Chair
shall make any necessary reassignments of SWGSTAIN Subcommittee
members from suspended or dissolved Subcommittees to new or existing
SWGSTAIN Subcommittees.
VI.
Process for Approval of Guidelines or Recommendations
A.
Following the presentation by the
SWGSTAIN Subcommittee Chair, SWGSTAIN members shall be provided
with the Subcommittees draft document or work product and
granted an opportunity to conduct a review. A review shall be considered
a written evaluation and/or an oral evaluation captured within the
SWGSTAIN meeting minutes of the Subcommittees draft document
or work product. Such review shall be deadlined at the discretion
of the SWGSTAIN Chair, and this critique shall then be forwarded
to the SWGSTAIN Subcommittee Chair for review and response by the
Subcommittee.
B.
After revision, the draft document or work product will be re-presented
to the SWGSTAIN members for a vote. An acceptance vote of 3/4 (either
present or in absentia) of the full SWGSTAIN membership will
be required for forwarding the draft document or work product to
the SWGSTAIN Executive Board for action. The SWGSTAIN Chair will
set a minimum of a 14-day deadline for the vote. Failure to vote
by the deadline will be considered a vote in favor of the draft
document or work product. Failure to achieve a 3/4 vote will return
the draft document or work product to the SWGSTAIN Subcommittee
and will follow the prescribed process until accepted or rejected.
C.
The
SWGSTAIN Executive Board shall vote on the Subcommittees accepted
draft document or work product. A unanimous vote (either present
or in absentia) of the SWGSTAIN Executive Board will be required
for approval of the draft document or work product. The SWGSTAIN
Chair will set a minimum of a 14-day deadline for the vote. Failure
to vote by the deadline will be considered a vote in favor of the
draft document or work product.
D.
An
approved draft document or work product will be offered for public
comment according to FBI SWG policy. Draft documents will be offered
for a minimum of 60 days for public comment. Comments made in writing
will be sent to the Subcommittee where each comment will be formally
addressed and where the response(s) will be published according
to FBI SWG policy.
E.
After
public comment and any necessary revision(s), the draft document
or work product will be re-presented to the SWGSTAIN membership
in accordance with section VI. B. If accepted the draft document
or work product will be forwarded to the SWGSTAIN Executive Board
for final approval by unanimous vote in accordance with section
VI. C.
F.
After
final approval by the SWGSTAIN Executive Board, the FBI will publish
the final document or work product in Forensic Science Communications
and/or through other public forums.
VII.
Amendments to the Bylaws
A.
Proposed
amendments to the bylaws will be made to the SWGSTAIN Executive
Board for consideration.
B.
If the SWGSTAIN Executive Board deems it appropriate, the proposed
amendment shall be provided to SWGSTAIN members at least 30 days
prior to a planned SWGSTAIN meeting at which they are to be voted
upon. The member may be present, vote by proxy, or vote in absentia.
Votes must be received by the deadline set by the SWGSTAIN Chair.
Failure to vote will be considered a vote in favor of the amendment.
C
An affirmation vote of 2/3 of the SWGSTAIN members shall be required
to approve amendment of the bylaws.
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