The laboratory of scientific and technical police under the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) has maintained its ISO/CEI 17025 quality certification for the 5th time. The certification is granted by the US-based ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB).
The laboratory has retained the certification following the annual audit carried out by international experts on August 23-26, the DGSN said in a statement on Wednesday.
This audit covers the second level of the international ISO/IEC 17025 quality standard which includes, besides reviewing purely technical and scientific missions related to forensic investigation, the conduct of comprehensive and advanced evaluation of the good governance and management of quality, skills and information systems, according to the same source.
This process has allowed the advanced scientific facility to retain the level 1 quality certification for four years in a row from 2018 to 2021.
The audit operations of the said laboratory involved a thorough review of the degree of compliance with quality standards in the conduct of criminal forensics, including the rules of scientific and professional ethics, maintaining the confidentiality of personal data and results of experiments and expertise, as well as standards related to the management of infrastructure and human resources and procedures.
The DGSN joined in 2018 a process aimed at fully modernizing the system of scientific and technical police and its role in criminal investigations, in view of serving strategic objectives and consolidating public rights and freedoms in the context of police action, the statement added, stressing the contribution of forensics to improving the performance and efficiency of investigations linked to newly emerging forms of crime with new modes and new generations of technology.
To implement this ambitious project, the DGSN accompanied the quality certification process of the laboratory by providing integrated infrastructure and working methods on par with the international standards of criminal investigation and by recruiting and training scientific skills. This year, more than 15 staff members with doctorates in different scientific specialties and 20 specialized technicians were appointed to work in various departments and sections of the laboratory.
