Police labs go under the microscope

2002-10-14

Accreditation of forensic labs an innovative step for RCMP

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Forensic Laboratory Services Directorate is where science meets crime solving.

Scientists and technologists at six labs across Canada look for the presence of alcohol in blood, urine and other body fluids; identify and compare blood, body fluids and hair using DNA analysis; detect and quantify drugs and poisons in cases involving sudden death, impaired driving and assault; examine recovered cartridge components to determine if they were fired from specific weapons; examine suspect passports and visas, currency, and credit cards to determine whether they are counterfeit or genuine; and compare handwriting and printing in documents.

In addition to analysing and examining physical evidence, the RCMP's forensic teams issue reports and give expert court testimony on the results obtained and on the conclusions that might be reached on the basis of those results.

For many years, forensic evidence was used to supplement criminal investigations. Now it often serves as the linchpin in resolving cases, where courts rely on DNA samples to either convict or exonerate an accused, or re-open and solve cases that might otherwise remain in limbo.

Never before has the credibility of evidence and those who examine it been on the line to such an extent. That alone was enough to "absolutely convince" the national police force that obtaining accreditation from the Standards Council of Canada's Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN) for its nationwide network of forensic labs "was the way to go."

Accreditation is the formal, independent evaluation of a laboratory's competence to conduct specific tests. It's become an essential way for labs to demonstrate their credibility to clients, regulators and the courts, both within outside Canada.

According to Murray Malcolm, the RCMP's national quality manager, "What we counted on for a long time was our reputation of doing reliable forensic work - a confidence which I don't think was entirely misplaced. But the environment in which we operate has changed and the RCMP is being held to standards of accountability to which perhaps it wasn't in the past," he says.

"Increasingly, there is the idea that taxpayers are entitled to know that their dollars are being spent wisely by a public institution like ours. So we're really forced, quite rightly, to demonstrate in objective terms that we actually can do what we claim to do."

Furthermore, Mr. Malcolm says, judges and lawyers who rely on RCMP-gathered forensic evidence to rule on or argue a case are themselves closely examining the methods of detection and analysis.

"The bottom line is that when our forensic scientists go to court, one of the most common questions they are asked is, 'Do you work in an accredited lab?' - and we now can say 'Yes.'"

Over the past two years, the RCMP's forensics labs in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax have received PALCAN accreditation.

The program's accreditation procedures are based on the ISO/IEC 17025, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, an international standard for laboratory assessment developed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission.

The general guidelines the standard provides are supplemented by the Standards Council's Guidelines for the Accreditation of Forensic Testing Laboratories (CAN-P-1578), which provides further clarity on specific areas related to forensics. For example, CAN-P-1578 expands on the process of analysing or examining items, known as "sample handling" or, in the case of the RCMP forensic labs, "exhibit handling".

"In our business, exhibits must be handled in a manner that rigorously preserves the chain of custody," explains Mr. Malcolm.

"When it's introduced as evidence in court, we have to demonstrate that we know every single person who was in possession of an exhibit and what they did with it. If you cannot prove the chain of custody, the results of your examination will probably never make it to court as evidence."

According to the Standards Council's Bruce Lodge, who led the assessment team that conducted the audits, between four and eight independent forensic experts from Canada and the United States reviewed each RCMP lab's application for accreditation.

"The initial assessment normally lasted three days," explains Mr. Lodge, a former Health Canada research scientist who holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry.

"First, we received and reviewed documentation and technical details about the operation. Then we went on site and assessed the activities of the lab and its quality management system. We left them with a report that outlined any necessary corrective actions, to which they had to respond within six months."

PALCAN requires accredited laboratories to undergo a reassessment one year after receiving accreditation and every two years thereafter to maintain their accreditation status.

Mr. Malcolm says that while the audit teams in the initial assessments found no "showstoppers" (irregularities in analysis and examination procedures that would prevent the labs from achieving accreditation), they did make recommendations to improve "general housekeeping", such as methods of documentation.

"The errors or problems that were found in no way disqualified the validity of the science we are doing. In an operation as complicated and tightly run as our forensic labs, the reality is that even I could go in and find things that need to be fixed," Mr. Malcolm says.

Besides highlighting minor errors, the thorough examination of practices and procedures involved in the audit could foster innovation within the RCMP's forensic lab network, suggests Mr. Malcolm. The audit helped to uncover ways to reduce turnaround times for lab results, for example, that "will probably mean investigations will cost less money."

He says the accreditation process has also led to the directorate looking more closely at its system of forensic analysis "to continually find more exact and reliable ways to accomplish the same ends within our operation and in turn lead to much more certain and effective results." Continuous re-evaluation and improvement is an important element in the operating of a quality management system, which is a mandatory element in lab accreditation under ISO/IEC 17025

Mr. Malcolm adds that the accreditation granted to the RCMP forensic labs has itself been an innovative step.

"Forensic labs in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere are accredited under exactly the same standard. That enhances our ability to talk to one another and exchange information about specific kinds of analyses and examinations because we're speaking about the same requirements expressed in exactly the same language, and have met those requirements under the same process.

"A group of third-party, arms-length experts came in, looked at our operations and said our outfit is doing good science - and that's where our credibility comes from."

Click here for more information on PALCAN.

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This article first appeared in Volume 29 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2002.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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