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April 1999 Volume 1 Number
1
What Is ASCLD/LAB
Accreditation?
The Crime Laboratory Accreditation
Program of the American
Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation
Board (ASCLD/LAB) is a voluntary program in which any crime laboratory
may participate to demonstrate that its management, operations,
personnel, procedures and instruments, physical plant and security,
and personnel safety procedures meet certain standards. The accreditation
process is one form of a quality assurance program, which may
be combined with proficiency testing, continuing education, and
other programs to help the laboratory strive to give better overall
service to the criminal justice system. The process of self-evaluation
which leads to accreditation is in itself a valuable management
tool for the crime laboratory director. (The fact that a laboratory
chooses not to apply for accreditation does not imply that a
laboratory is inadequate or that its results cannot be trusted.)
What Are the Objectives?
The Laboratory Accreditation
Board has adopted four accreditation objectives which clearly
define the purpose and nature of the program. They are:
1. To improve the quality
of laboratory services provided to the criminal justice system.
2. To offer to the general public and to users of laboratory
services a means of identifying
throughout the nation those laboratory facilities which satisfy
accreditation criteria.
3. To develop and maintain criteria which can be used by a laboratory
to assess its level of performance and to strengthen its operation.
4. To provide an independent, impartial and objective system
by which laboratory facilities can benefit from a total organizational
review.
What Is the Major
Requirement?
It is required for quality
assessment and control that a crime laboratory participate in
a program or combination of programs which include the following:
1. Periodic case report and
case note review done on an internal basis. This type of review
assures that the examiners are following the laboratory's established
procedures and that the findings are properly documented; and
2. Proficiency testing (internal and/or external) involving the
use of blind and/or open samples of which the "true"
results are unknown to the examiner prior to the analysis.
What Are the Main
Areas Inspected?
The inspection includes the
following main areas:
- Facilities and equipment
- Written operating and technical
procedures
- Interviews of the technical
staff
- Review of casework reports
and supporting documentation
What Is the Process?
Crime laboratory directors
seeking information about laboratory accreditation should direct
their inquiries to the Executive Secretary of the ASCLD/LAB.
An ASCLD/LAB Accreditation Manual can be obtained from the Executive
Secretary for a fee. The process need not go any further; there
is no obligation on the part of the crime laboratory director.
The laboratory director may elect to evaluate his/her own laboratory
for the purpose of self-improvement without seeking accreditation.
This is done without incurring obligation or expense beyond the
cost of the manual. When the crime laboratory director determines
that his laboratory is prepared, he may elect to apply formally
for accreditation following the instructions included in the
manual.
The process may continue
as follows:
I . Self-evaluation by applicant
laboratory
2. Application and supporting documents filed by applicant laboratory
3. On-site inspection by a team of trained inspectors
4. Inspection report considered by ASCLD/ Laboratory Accreditation
Board
5. One year to remedy deficiencies before final decision by the
Board.
6. Accreditation review report completed by the laboratory annually.
7. Full re-inspection required every five years
8. An annual maintenance fee of $500.00 must be paid by each
accredited laboratory.
What Types of Standards
Are There?
Essential: Standards which directly affect
and have fundamental impact on the work product of the laboratory
or the integrity of the evidence. The laboratory must meet 100%
of the Essential Standards.
Important: Standards which are considered key
indicators of the overall quality of the laboratory but may not
directly affect the work product or the integrity of the evidence.
The laboratory must meet 70% of the Important Standards.
Desirable: Standards which have the least effect
on the work product or the integrity of the evidence but which
nevertheless enhance the work product of the laboratory. The
laboratory must meet 50% of the Desirable Standards.
What Is Gained by
Earning Accreditation?
Once a laboratory has successfully
completed the accreditation process, it is appropriate that this
achievement be publicly recognized. The ASCLD/LAB encourages
laboratories to mark the occasion with a ceremony at which the
Chair of the ASCLD/LAB, or his/her representative, will formally
present the accreditation certificate. The accreditation ceremony
and attendant media coverage serve the dual purposes of demonstrating
the capabilities of the laboratory to its users and of publicizing
the accreditation program. Directors of Laboratories and Laboratory
Systems which achieve accreditation become voting members of
the Delegate Assembly, which is the governing body or the accreditation
program.
Who to Contact for
Further Information?
The Executive Secretary of
the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory
Accreditation Board:
Mr. Ralph Keaton
146 Nicklaus Drive
Garner, NC 27529
Phone (919) 773-2600
Fax (919) 773-2602
E-mail at ascld-lab@mindspring.com
Will You Make
the Decision
to Strive to Become an Accredited Forensic Science Laboratory?
Laboratories That
Have Earned
ASCLD/LAB Accreditation
as of September 15,1998
Local Laboratories
Albuquerque (NM) Police Department
Bexar County (TX) Forensic Science Center
DuPage County (IL) Sheriffs Department
Erie County (NY) Police Laboratory
Los Angeles County (CA) Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County (CA) Coroner Laboratory
Miami-Dade (FL) Police Department
Miami Valley (OH) Crime Laboratory
Monroe County (NY) Public Safety Laboratory
Nassau County (NY) Medical Examiner's Office
Nassau County (NY) Police Department
Niagara County (NY) Sheriffs Department
North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory System (3 Laboratories)
New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Northern Illinois Police Crime Laboratory
Oakland (CA) Police Department Onondaga County (NY)
Medical Examiner's
Office
Onondaga County (NY) Sheriff's Department
Orange County (CA) Sheriff's Department
Palm Beach County (FL) Sheriff s Office
Pinellas County (FL) Forensic Laboratory
St. Louis (MO) Metro Police Department
San Bernardino County (CA) Sheriff's Office
San Diego (CA) Police Department
Santa Clara County (CA) District Attorney's Lab
Scottsdale (AZ) Police Department
Suffolk County (NY) Crime Laboratory
Tucson City/ County (AZ) Police Laboratory
Washoe County (NV) Sheriff s Office
Weld County (CO) Sheriff's Department
Westchester County (NY) Dept of Public Safety Ballistics Unit
Westchester County (NY) Forensic Crime Laboratory
Yonkers (NY) Police Department
Federal Laboratories
Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco
& Firearms (3 Laboratories)
Department of Defense, AFIP, DNA Registry
Drug Enforcement Administration (8 Laboratories)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory
Naval Criminal Investigative Service Laboratories (2 Laboratories)
USACIL-CONUS, Fort Gillem (GA)
United States Secret Service
State Laboratories
Alaska Department of Public
Safety (1 Laboratory)
Arizona Department of Public Safety (4 Laboratories)
California Department of Justice (13 Laboratories)
Florida Department of Law Enforcement (6 Laboratories)
Idaho Department of Law Enforcement (3 Laboratories)
Illinois State Police (9 Laboratories)
Indiana State Police (4 Laboratories)
Kansas Bureau of Investigation (2 Laboratories)
Michigan State Police (7 Laboratories)
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (1 Laboratory)
Missouri State Highway Patrol (6 Laboratories)
North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (2 Laboratories)
New York State Police (4 Laboratories)
Oregon State Police (8 Laboratories)
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (1 Laboratory)
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (4 Laboratories)
Texas Department of Public Safety (13 Laboratories)
Texas Commission on Fire Protection (1 Laboratory)
Utah Department of Public Safety (3 Laboratories)
Virginia Division of Forensic Sciences (4 Laboratories)
Washington State Patrol (6 Laboratories)
West Virginia State Police (1 Laboratory)
Wisconsin Department of Justice (3 Laboratories)
International Laboratories
Australian Federal Police
(5 Laboratories)
Centre of Forensic Sciences (Toronto, Canada)
Forensic Science Centre of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia)
Forensic Science Laboratory—Chemistry Centre (Perth, Australia)
Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine (Singapore)
Hong Kong Government Laboratory
New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science & Research
(3 Labs)
New Zealand Police Questioned Documents Section, Wellington
State Forensic Science Laboratory (Adelaide, Australia)
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (Southbank, Australia)
Private Laboratories
Cellmark Diagnostics (Germantown,
Maryland)
GeneLex Corporation (Seattle, Washington)
Laboratory Corporation of America
(Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina)
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FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS APRIL 1999 VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 |
