Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi appointed chairman of ENFSI
At the Annual Meeting 2013 held in Belgrade, the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) Membership elected Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi, Chief Executive Officer of the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), as its Chairman Designate.
As of 2015, the chairmanship of ENFSI will be taken by Tjin-A-Tsoi. According to the Minister of Security and Justice, Ivo Opstelten, the appointment of Tjin-A-Tsoi shows that the NFI plays a leading role in the field of forensic investigation.
European Network of Forensic Science Institutes
ENFSI is a network of nearly all forensic laboratories from 36 European countries, which acts as the first point of contact for the European Commission in the field of forensic investigation. The purpose of ENFSI is to further increase the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of forensic investigation in Europe. Within ENFSI, more than sixteen different working groups are active in fields such as DNA analysis, firearms and ammunition, and fingerprints. In order to be able to become a member of ENFSI, a forensic science institute must, among other things, comply with strict international quality standards.
Netherlands Forensic Institute
Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi has been Chief Executive Officer of the NFI since June 2007. Since then, the institute has succeeded, among other things, in reducing the delivery times by more than 90% and in clearing the backlog of work. In addition to customer focus, the key objectives have been innovation and broadening the customer portfolio. At the request of the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Tjin-A-Tsoi recently wrote a paper about his views on the forensic science sector and NFI’s business model titled ‘Trends, Challenges and Strategy in the Forensic Science’. Last month, he explained this paper during a conference of NIST in Washington, which had specifically been organised for this purpose and which was attended by laboratory directors from across the United States. NIST plays a major role in reforming the forensic science sector in the United States.