Workshops and Training

Forensic Relational Testing Workshop - March 18, 2010

This statistics workshop will cover relationship/paternity testing, calculations, mixture interpretation, unusual case studies, Hardy Weinberg, Linkage equilibrium and MORE! For more details, read the Relational Testing Workshop Flyer and scroll to the end of the Workshops & Training page for registration information.

Please click on the "Workshops & Training" link on the menu at left to access our range of training programs.

FQS Position Statement Regarding the NAS Report

As most of you know this report will have impact on the forensic community and FQS believes in providing you all the information possible and will update you as we progress through new challenges.  The report is welcomed and we hope to use it at as a tool toward future improvements and providing the highest degree of quality toward the forensic community.

FQS position statement regarding the NAS report.

Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

The report is available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12589 and is linked below. Disable browser pop-up blockers to view the linked document.

Accreditation

In response to requests from forensic testing laboratories seeking to demonstrate their conformity with the international standards, FQS developed a program of accreditation based on the requirements of ISO Guide 25.  It accredited its first laboratory using this program in 1999, making it the longest-established provider of such accreditation for forensic science in the United States.    FQS also displayed its commitment by being the first provider of forensic science accreditations in the US to successfully complete an external evaluation for conformity to ISO/IEC 17011(2004): “Conformity assessment — General requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies”.

FQS’s accredited laboratories include: Crime laboratories, Forensic environmental testing, Animal dope testing for equine and canine racing, Crime scene examination, and DNA testing.

Please click on the “Accreditation” link on the menu at the left for more information.

Police Science Accreditation

Most of you are aware that the recently published report from the National Academies of Science (NAS) was highly critical of several areas of forensic science, and recommended that laboratory accreditation should be mandatory.  Mandatory "laboratory" accreditation is therefore a real issue that crime scene units and related operations in police agencies will have to deal with.  Indeed the whole concept of provision of services from within a law enforcement agency was criticized by the NAS panel. Recently we reached out to the police science community and invited their participation in developing guidance for accreditation of crime scene examination, latent prints, and digital evidence.  For more information on the Police Science Accreditation program, please read our flyer and contact Terry Mills, Manager of Accreditations, at 850-375-6992 or tm@forquality.org