Will cat lovers protest the priorities of the National Institute of Justice? #apmp #in

Anyone who is involved in forensic sciences (in my case, automated fingerprint and palmprint identification systems, and related systems) must pay attention to what the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is doing. The NIJ, in collaboration with other Federal agencies, is responsible for several Scientific Working Groups. These groups are charged with the task of advancing the science in specific areas. While I am most familiar with the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology - usually referred to by its acronym SWGFAST - there are a number of working groups out there.

This morning I ran across a new Scientific Working Group. In the process of researching this evening's meeting of the Southern California chapter of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, I went to one of Professor Michael Alley's web pages. While viewing his demonstration of the "assertion - evidence" presentation structure, I couldn't help but notice that one of his images was credited to swgdog.org.

Yes, there is a Scientific Working Group on Dog and Orthogonal detector Guidelines. You can learn all about it:

SWGDOG is a partnership of local, state, federal and international agencies including private vendors, law enforcement and first responders. We anticipate that establishing consensus based best practices for the use of detection teams will provide many benefits to local law enforcement and homeland security. Improving the consistency and performance of deployed teams and optimizing their combination with electronic detection devices will improve interdiction efforts as well as courtroom acceptance.

While I might not give the group a second thought, I'm sure that cat lovers are appalled. You see, the Feds are spending a bunch of money on dog-related stuff, but are not spending comparable money on cat-related stuff. And since cat lovers can be passionate, I think I've discovered a major election year issue.

But an acronym requires words behind it. What should SWGCAT be?

The Scientific Working Group on Cougar Agitated Temperament?

The Scientific Working Group on Communist Atheist Turncoats?

Let's face it, dogs will cooperate with the NIJ happily. Cats will only cooperate with the NIJ when the mood suits them.

(Can you tell I'm a dog person?)