Forensic Access Newsletter - "Benchmark"
July 2008
A Year Is A Long Time In Forensic Science!
Roger Robson, Managing Director of Forensic Access, reflects on his 1st year in the job
 I can’t really believe that it is already 1 year since I was appointed Managing Director of Forensic Access: these past 12 months have flown by, and I have found myself constantly challenged and invigorated by this rapidly changing and exciting industry, in which Forensic Access plays such an important part. The criminal defence sector and forensic science provision to the police have both been undergoing big changes in the last year and these, and other factors, have impacted on my work and that of the company.
When I set out to re-shape Forensic Access I gave myself an objective of re-enforcing what I saw as the three keywords that underpin Forensic Access and what we stand for: quality, experience and objectivity.
Forensic Access Quality
“Quality” is such a broad term, but we take quality very seriously across our business, not only in the provision of our science, but also in our customer support, our knowledge, our contacts and, of course, it terms of quality standards. Our commitment to quality is exemplified in the following “quality” highlights:
- Appointment of Director and forensic scientist, April Robson;
- Recruitment of our Principal Biologist, Clare Stangoe;
- Establishment of a new team of experienced customer support and administration personnel;
- Appointment of new, highly experienced forensic science consultants; we have doubled the number of consultants in order to provide an enhanced and broader service to our customers. Sadly, we have had to turn away a few who we felt didn’t meet our high standards;
- Accessing the services of a very experienced quality standards professional, who has worked in the forensic science industry for many years;
- Appointment of new “associates” – companies offering very specialist forensic services;
- I have also spent much of my time remaking contact with other forensic science providers, specialist companies, governmental and non-governmental agencies (including CRCC, IPCC, NPIA, UKAS, ACPO) and, of course, the new Forensic Regulator (see article in this newsletter).
We are particularly excited about the signing of a lease on new premises, in which we are building brand new, state of the art forensic laboratories which will exemplify tremendously our commitment to real forensic science quality (more in this issue).
Forensic Access Experience
We are very proud of having on our in-house team April Robson and Clare Stangoe. April and Clare are two of the most experienced forensic biologists in the country. April specialises in the re-examination of items in cold cases and, in the last few years, has taken the lead on examining three of the highest profile cases, in England. Clare, also a very experienced scientist, specialises in major crime cases and scene investigations/re-constructions. She spent much of her time with her former employer working on scenes and homicide cases for the Metropolitan Police Service. Clare is now bringing this experience to assisting the Criminal Defence Services, including scene examination (again, more in this issue).
We have also overhauled our list of consultants and added the names of some very key individuals, as well as expanding the list of companies who can offer us very specialist forensic services.
Forensic Access Objectivity Through Independence
I particularly value the fact that, in the past 12 months, we have re-affirmed Forensic Access as the UK’s leading, independent supplier of forensic services. We are very proud of our independence and we feel that it is vital that the Criminal Justice System in the UK has a forensic provider, who is genuinely independent of, for example, the Home Office, the police, the judiciary and mainstream “prosecution” forensic providers. This independence allows us to offer totally impartial, objective, quality forensic advice, not only to the criminal defence sector but to a broad range of organisations. It was pleasing to see that our independent status has been acknowledged and supported by the newly appointed Forensic Science Regulator – Mr Andrew Rennison (see article).
Additional recognition of our independence and experience can be seen in the number of approaches that have been made to me, and I am pleased and privileged to now be part of the following:
- Advisory Panel for the Human Genetics Commission ‘Citizens Inquiry into the Forensic Use of DNA and Genetic Information’
- Forensic Practitioners Specialist Group
- Forensic Occupational Standards Group
- Forensic Access asked to lead on the establishment of an “association” for smaller providers
So, a very exciting year, and a year in which we continued to develop our services to support you, our valued customers, and the criminal justice system as a whole. I hope you find that this edition of Benchmark provides you with a useful overview of what Forensic Access has been working on over the last 12 months. If you have any questions on our services or how we can support you, your organisation and your clients then I would welcome talking to you.
Thank you for your continued support.
Roger Robson, MD, Forensic Access
< next article >
|
