WHO: Members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Public Defender, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts State Police, and 28 Rhode Island municipal police departments. Peter Gagliardi, senior vice president of Forensic Technology of Largo, Fla. is the featured speaker. Total of 95 participants.

WHAT: The 13 Critical Tasks Workshop, which is based on the premise that the successful investigation of firearm related crimes depends on the effective management of information found on the inside and outside of the gun.

The program will address what should happen when a firearm and/or firearms related evidence is seized by law enforcement, when it is examined in the forensic/crime laboratory and how the information obtained may be used to link cases together within a department, between departments and across state borders, both regionally and nationally.

The program’s host is the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory at the University of Rhode Island, which has access to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN). NIBIN is overseen and financed by the ATF.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: University of Rhode Island, Pastore Hall, Room 124, 51 Lower College Road, Kingston, R.I.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Dave Lavallee in the URI Department of Communications and Marketing at 401-874-5862.