INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF CRIMINALITY IN 2016

• Published in: Romanian Journal of Forensic Science (English ed.) Vol. 18; no. 111; pp. 2572 - 2577
• Main Author: Vasile, Viorel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucharest Asociatia Criminalistilor din Romania 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Accreditation; Automation; Ballistics; Best practice; Collaboration; Councils; Criminal investigations; Criminalization; Data exchange; Evidence; Explosives; Firearms; Forensic ballistics; Forensic sciences; International cooperation; Laboratories; Law enforcement; Organized crime; Netherlands; Europe
• ISSN: 2069-2617; 2069-2617

In order to foster co-operation between police and judicial authorities across the European Union with a view to creating, by 2020, a European area of forensics, the Member States and the Commission will work together to make progress in the following areas in order to ensure a fair, efficient and effective administration of justice and security for impartial citizens: - accreditation of forensic institutes and laboratories; - compliance with the minimum competency criteria for forensic personnel; - establishing common guidelines on best practices and their application in the day-to-day work of forensic laboratories and institutes; - conducting proficiency tests / collaborative exercises on forensic activities at international level; - Application of minimum quality standards for investigations at the place of the offense and management of the evidence from the place of the offense at the courtroom; - Recognizing the equivalence of forensic law enforcement activities to avoid duplication of effort by canceling evidence due to technical and qualitative differences, as well as significantly reducing the time needed to analyze offenses with a cross-border component; - identifying optimal and shared ways for creating, updating and using forensic databases; - use progress in forensic field in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and other criminal activities; - raise awareness of the field of forensics, in particular through appropriate education and training of the community of law enforcement and judicial authorities; - R & D projects to promote the further development of forensic infrastructure. Best practice manuals for forensic disciplines: - The use of best practice textbooks in most forensic disciplines - ranging from the "classic" forensic domains to forensic investigations specific to the digital age - by forensic service providers in Europe will lead to alignment of procedures and growth the quality of forensic services available to police and judicial authorities across Europe; - National accreditation bodies are encouraged to use the ENFSI best practice manuals or other manuals recognized by the forensic community when performing accreditation of forensic service providers' processes. 1.2. Stimulating the exchange of forensic information relating to databases, for example in the field of judicial ballistics (firearms and ammunition), explosives and drugs: - During the work of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 26 January 2016, Member States expressed their willingness to extend forensic information exchange from their national databases through a system similar to the Prüm Decision Implementation, for example in ballistics judicial (firearms and ammunition), explosives and drugs; - In addition, given that facial recognition algorithms have reached a "recognized maturity", it is necessary to discuss in a suitable forum the possibility of a facial forensic database similar to those in the fields of legal genetics and dactyloscopy, a complementary biometric identification parameter; - Increasing the exchange of forensic information in the aforementioned areas will contribute substantially to the fight against organized crime and terrorism. 1.3. Encouraging accreditation of forensic service providers and staff competence: - Accreditation of forensic procedures used by forensic service providers facilitates the recognition of forensic forensic evidence and will substantially contribute to increasing confidence in forensic procedures and the consistency of forensic results obtained in a different Member State; - an action plan to stimulate the accreditation of forensic procedures should be drawn up at the level of the European Commission, especially in areas where data are potentially subject to international data exchange, such as judicial ballistics (firearms and munitions), explosives and drugs, which were highlighted as priorities at the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on 25-26 January 2016, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.