Helping Crime Labs of All Sizes Improve Performance

In recent years, the forensic disciplines practiced in public crime laboratories have been under intense scrutiny by their external stakeholders. Intensified by the pressure of a significant increase in case backlogs, analytical capabilities are being closely examined to ensure forensic service providers follow best practices in every aspect of agency operations.

To ensure laboratories have the tools to conduct a review of the forensic services they provide, the NFSTC, through a Cooperative Agreement with the National Institute of Justice, has developed a comprehensive forensic services review process. This toolkit of forms, surveys and documents allows agencies to conduct a detailed assessment of their operations and provides a method to evaluate performance and facilitate service improvements.

The documents are available for use by any crime laboratory. Click here to download the Forensic Services Review Documents toolkit. (This download is a WinZip™ file, approximately 1MB in size. After downloading the Zip file, make sure to first extract all files to your computer before using them. Opening the document files requires Adobe® Reader® and Microsoft Excel (one file – optional).)

The NFSTC has helped laboratories nationwide review their forensic services to gauge performance and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity, consistency and quality. To find out more about having NFSTC conduct a review of your agency’s services, contact David Sylvester, Program Administration Director, at david.sylvester@nfstc.org