Forensics

1. How much, and what, of the forensic analyses does your Police Force do in-house and how much do you have to outsource?
2. 2 Do you have a budget set aside for outsourced Forensic Services?
3. Within that budget does a certain amount of this get set aside as a ‘case budget’ for forensic services when investigating a major crime, i.e. is the amount of money used for a major crime controlled or can as much money be spent as is deemed necessary to investigate a major crime scene forensically? If it is controlled what primary forensic analyses does your Police Force outsource when investigating a major crime (providing the evidence is there) and what, if any, evidence is more likely to be dismissed from a major crime if cost is a factor in their forensic analysis?

The attached charts show the savings made by submission staff for the last financial year and Apr-July 10.

The figures are obtained by comparing the invoice cost (actual cost) to the cost that would have been incurred (holab cost) had all the exhibits on the MG21 been examined as submitted. The Forensic Services Officers use their experience and knowledge to achieve the best evidential value for the best price and will discuss a case with the scientist and the OIC to put together a forensic strategy. As an example, if numerous exhibits have been submitted for a case where the OIC is looking to identify an offender, we will request a staged examination of the exhibits in a particular order. This reduces the number of exhibits initially examined before a result is obtained.

MG21 Cost Savings