Photo: General Police Inspectorate

Today, 22 March 2018, the Forensic and Judicial Expertise Centre of the General Police Inspectorate (GPI) has been accredited by the National Centre for Accreditation “MOLDAC” in line with the international standard SM SR EN ISO/CEI 17025:2006 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories”. The accreditation certificate confirms the compliance with all requirements of the standard and allows recognition at international level of the results of forensic investigations performed in the laboratories of Moldovan Police.

Thus, the Forensic and Judicial Expertise Centre has been accredited for six types of expertise: ballistics, impressions, fingerprints, handwriting, forensic document examination and digital forensics.

The preparations for accreditation have started six years ago when the Amendment to the Letter of Agreement between the Government of the United States and the Republic of Moldova of 28 August 2001 has been signed, that launched the first phase of the Project on Development of Forensic Laboratories in the Republic of Moldova.

Further assistance in this field was offered since 2014 through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) within the project “Support to police reform in the Republic of Moldova”.

“It is an important step towards ensuring a transparent, fair and impartial justice. We shall be able to discover faster the crimes and increase the level of trust of citizens in the quality of services provided by the Police. In addition, the international accreditation will allow us to have a better collaboration with forensic centers from other countries, exchange relevant information and experience, and harmonize the standards and procedures.” mentioned Alexandru Pînzari, Chief of Police.

SM SR EN ISO/CEI 17025:2006 is an international standard applicable in forensic area and represents a way of ensuring the beneficiaries that the forensic laboratories have necessary technical capacities to deliver precise and reliable results of investigation/expertise made. This standard is a model of system management of laboratories that aims at controlling the quality costs, improve the accuracy of expertise and guarantee the consistency of results.

”The accreditation is not just in recognition for meeting standards. It reflects the competence of the dedicated staff, the validity and suitability of scientific methods, the appropriateness of equipment and facilities, and the ongoing assurance through internal quality control.  It all has been achieved through hard work and dedication of the people that work here and I commend everyone involved in this process.” underlined in his speech H.E. James Pettit, U.S. Ambassador to Chisinua.

As part of the accreditation process, the Forensic and Judicial Expertise Centre has benefitted from international consultancy in developing the quality management system and elaboration of policies and internal procedures in accordance with international standards. At the same time, Police forensic laboratories have been provided with equipment, furniture, ICT hardware and specialized software solutions necessary to obtain the accreditation, while the employees of the Centre were trained on application of the requirements of the SM SR EN ISO/CEI 17025:2006 standard.

“A modern and well equipped Forensic Center with an enhanced capacity and reengineered business processes is a key prerequisite for promoting the rule of law, building a transparent and accountable justice system and protecting human rights and universal freedoms of all citizens of Moldova.” stated Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Moldova.

The total value of the assistance provided by the U.S. Government for the Police including through UNDP is 2,500,000 USD.

The accreditation of the Forensic and Judicial Expertise Centre is one of the objectives of the Police Development Strategy for 2016-2020.

Additionally, to the US Embassy and UNDP assistance, the European Union offers since 2016 support to the implementation of key-elements of the Strategy through the Budget Support Program under the condition that the Government of the Republic of Moldova fulfills the commitments undertaken and achieves measurable results in the process of police development, agreed by the EU and Moldovan authorities.