International forensic cooperation leaves to be desired
At the international level, forensic awareness and a cooperation structure are lacking. Consequently, opportunities are missed to prevent crime, to prosecute offenders and to clear the innocent of all blame.
Crime, war and natural disasters do not stop at the national borders. Forensic research in an international context requires international cooperation and coordination. In the past few years a lot of effort has been put in improving international cooperation in the field of science, but relatively little has been done to improve operational partnerships, training, exercise and education. Among other things, this has lead to the loss of essential traces and obstruction of the course of justice.
For that reason, the Netherlands Forensic Institute organised a conference around this theme (Crossing borders: international forensics) on 1 and 2 July, with international speakers from the United Nations, Interpol and other organisations.
Justice Rapid Response
During the conference outgoing Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin and Mayor of The Hague Van Aartsen stressed the need for international cooperation and the importance of forensic research in that respect. The Minister supports the participation of the NFI in the Justice Rapid Response initiative and urged the conference participants to further develop this initiative.
The purpose of the Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is to be able to offer high quality forensic expertise on the site of an attack or a disaster anywhere in the world. This is supported by several countries, but the forensic component is underexposed. The NFI will offer the JRR its services and will also give forensic training courses to the JRR from September.
The Canadian JRR coordinator Andras Vamos-Goldman confirmed this during the NFI conference. On behalf of the NFI Director Kees Möhring stressed the need for a greater involvement of the United Nations in the JRR.
Forensic awareness
Kees Möhring, External Relations Director of the NFI: “International organisations are lacking forensic awareness. There is a lack of knowledge of forensic research and forensic capabilities as a result of which a lot of time is wasted and crucial traces are lost when time is of the essence.
It is absolutely necessary to pay more attention at the international level to forensic intelligence, research on the scene of the crime and the furnishing of proof in court. Sloppy investigations at the scene of the crime, inadequate use of the analysis potential of international data traffic and insufficient forensic awareness in court can make the difference between solved and unsolved crimes, between guilty and not guilty.”
The NFI is taking several initiatives, in collaboration with JRR, Interpol and the United Nations, to achieve efficient operational cooperation in the event of international disasters.
Forensic awareness should be raised in the entire criminal justice chain. The NFI frequently draws the attention of the police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Judiciary and the legal profession to this issue. Lawyer and Professor Geert-Jan Knoops LL.M., one of the speakers at the conference: "Forensic Awareness is becoming increasingly important for international criminal lawyers. An international register of forensic experts should be set up, comparable to the National Register of Judicial Experts in the Netherlands.”
Interpol also supports the necessity of international forensic awareness. David Asante-Apeatu, Director of Criminal Investigation at Interpol: “Sharing information is of paramount importance to international police cooperation. This certainly also applies to forensic information”.
NFI conference Crossing borders: international forensics
The object of the NFI conference Crossing borders: international forensics is to identify problems in the field of international forensic case research and to create support among the organisations concerned to optimize international forensic case research through international cooperation.