Manager of Accreditations Announcement

FQS-I Manager of Accreditations Pat Wojtowicz will resign her position effective October 31, 2008, to become Deputy Director of the Forensic Biology Laboratory of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City. Her last day in the FQS office will be October 24.

FQS is pleased to announce that Randall Robbins has accepted the position of Manager of Accreditations. Randy recently retired after 30+ years with the Illinois State Police, the last 13 of which were as the Director of Quality Assurance. During his career he was a drug chemist and trace analyst before becoming an Assistant Laboratory Director, then moving into the QA role, where he oversaw all aspects of the Quality Assurance Program, including audits and maintenance of accreditation. He has a BA (Chemistry) from Central Methodist College in Missouri, and is a charter member and Past-President of the Association of Forensic Quality Managers (AFQAM), a Past-President of the Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists (MAFS), a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). He has a vast knowledge of ISO 17025 accreditation and the FQS-I accreditation program. Randy will join FQS in mid-October to allow for a transition period before Pat’s departure. Randy will be based at his home in Illinois.

Effective October 20, please direct all accreditation inquiries to Randy at rpr@forquality.org.

ISO Accreditation Workshops

In response to many requests, Forensic Quality Services (FQS) is pleased to announce a program of workshops dealing with aspects of ISO accreditation. Click for more information regarding ISO Without Tears workshops.

Accreditation Granted to Illinois State Police Crime Scene Services Command 

First ISO 17025 accreditation in the US for stand-alone crime scene processing units

The first ISO 17025 accreditations in the United States of stand-alone crime scene processing units were awarded by FQS-I on August 6, 2007, to the central headquarters and five regional offices of the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Services Command (ISP-CSSC). The accreditations recognize that the ISP-CSSC is conformant with ISO/IEC 17025:2005, FQS-I general forensic supplemental requirements (FRA-1), and FQS-I crime scene investigation supplemental requirements (FRA-5) for the “crime scene investigation” scope of testing.

FQS-I extends its congratulations to the ISP-CSSC for a “job well done”, and for its outstanding commitment to quality in crime scene investigation.

Now Available! Uncertainty of Measurement Presentation

The Uncertainty of Measurement presentation was prepared by Forensic Quality Services, Inc. as an aid to our current and prospective accredited laboratories in interpretation of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The presentation consists of a slide show, accompanied by Notes. Microsoft PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer is required to view the presentation.

Uncertainty of Measurement

Click to download the zipped presentation files. When the File Download window appears, select Save and save "UM zip file.zip" to your local machine. Unzip (extract) the files with a zip file utlilty program such as WinZip.

Police Science Accreditation Programs

FQS-I now offers accreditation programs focused on the "police sciences" as applied in Law Enforcement agencies (in contrast to traditional forensic science laboratories). Working with subject matter experts, FQS-I developed documents that provide guidance for the application of international management system and testing standards to Identification Sections and Crime Scene Investigation Units within Law Enforcement Agencies.

The programs consist of generic criteria for competency of testing (GRA , FRA-1) and field specific criteria for latent print testing (FRA-4) or crime scene investigation (FRA-5) in law enforcement agencies. The generic criteria are those set out in standards recognized throughout the U.S. and internationally (ISO 17025 and ILAC Guide 19).

Please contact us for further information.

New! Digital and Multimedia Evidence Examination Supplemental Document

The nature of digital and multimedia evidence examinations poses interesting challenges for the application of ISO 17025 and the supplemental forensic requirements FRA-1. Earlier this year FQS-I convened a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of digital and multimedia evidence subject matter experts to consider whether additional interpretation of the standards would be useful in this area of testing.  The TAC's discussions have led to the publication of a new FQS-I requirements/guidance document.   FRA-6 : Forensic Requirements for Agencies that Perform Digital and Multimedia Evidence Testing is now available on the “FQS-I Programs” page.

Accreditation of DNA Laboratories

We are pleased to announce that FQS is recognized by the NDIS Procedures Board as meeting the requirements to accredit laboratories participating in NDIS or seeking to participate in NDIS. FQS provides this service through the ISO accreditation program offered by its FQS-I business unit.

Please contact us for further information.

Accreditation of Forensic Science Laboratories

FQS-I offers its accreditation to any forensic science facility conducting testing that meets the definition of "Objective Test" contained in our FRA-1 document.

FQS-I accreditation has the following advantages:

• The programs are all based on ISO/IEC 17025 with Field Specific Criteria from the internationally accepted guidelines for forensic testing published in ILAC G19 (www.ilac.org).
• Special test areas, such as DNA, have their own additional field specific criteria. In the case of DNA these are the National Quality Assurance Standards for DNA Testing. Additional Field Specific Criteria can be developed through Technical Advisory Committees.
• Laboratories can choose whether to apply for accreditation in all areas, or just a few, or even start with one so that they can introduce the benefit of accreditation in a step-wise manner to the laboratory.
• Each accreditation is accompanied by a Scope of Accreditation that defines the tests and areas of evidence to which they are applied. This benefits laboratories and users by making it clear what is covered by the accreditation and by providing a frame work for modification if tests are added or withdrawn.