Report Summary
This report provides members of the Forensic Services Committee with an overview of Regulation, Compliance and Assurance Activity of Forensic Services.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Forensics Services Committee - 1 February 2023
Date : 01 February 2023
Location : online
Forensic Services accreditation history
The history of forensic science in Scotland can be traced back to the first fingerprint and photographic department, founded by Glasgow City Police in 1931.
The subsequent growth of specialist forensic departments in other Scottish forces followed with the first forensic specialist being employed by Grampian Police in 1960.
DNA casework services were introduced to the Tayside laboratory in 1991, with the Scottish DNA database established in 1996.
The first applicable ISO Standard for testing laboratories was ISO/IEC Guide 25: 1990. This Standard was in place when the Dundee laboratory became the first in Scotland to be accredited, for DNA analysis in July 1998, gaining the accreditation number 1873.
The laboratories in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen soon followed in Nov 2001, Oct 2004 and Jul 2005 respectively.
In Jun 2018, Forensic Services achieved UKAS ‘multi-site’ accreditation, demonstrating that all parts of Forensic Services operate under a single, harmonised management system that meets the requirements of ISO 17025.
Forensic Services chose to maintain the 1873 accreditation number in recognition of the consistent and robust demonstration of the requirements of competence of testing laboratories for twenty years.
