Officers ‘lack forensic basics’ despite commitment to improvement

Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) have published a follow-up review of Scientific Support Services within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The review examined the progress made by the PSNI in implementing 25 recommendations designed to improve the force’s performance in terms of how scientific support backed up crime investigation and detection across Northern Ireland since it was initially inspected in 2005.

“Inspectors are greatly encouraged by the progress that has been made towards the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report,” said Kit Chivers, Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland and Ken Williams, HMIC.

Eight of the recommendations contained in the original report have already been fully implemented. These include the appointment of a clear ‘champion’ for volume crime within the PSNI and the formation of a forensic strategy group.

“This review has shown PSNI is committed to improving its performance within this critically important area of business,” added Mr Chivers.

A better-resourced submissions unit has been established which operates to a robust service level agreement, and has a priority system in place that recognises the growing importance of volume crime.

However, the latest report added that “many frontline officers still lacked forensic awareness, and the training delivered so far to these members of staff had not resulted in significant improvements”.
It went on to highlight that a five-day scientific evidence model was now included as part of the Student Officer initial training programme at the PSNI College, yet despite this development, supervising officers stated that many new student officers required re-training in the basics on reaching their district command unit (DCU).

Mr Chivers added: “Despite the fact progress on this recommendation has not been as great as we would have hoped for, inspectors recognise that the PSNI is working to improve things. The force is in the process of purchasing a training package from the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in England and Wales, which it plans to adapt for use within Northern Ireland to help address these shortcomings.”

In conclusion, Mr Chivers and Mr Williams said they recognised the impact the restructuring of the PSNI from 29 DCUs to eight had had on the pace of progress.

However, they were satisfied those critical areas were being addressed and that a commitment existed within the PSNI to implement all of the accepted recommendations contained in the original report.

In response, PSNI Chief Superintendent Ken Henning said he believed the current training programme was sufficient.

“I don`t accept that police officers don`t know what to do at a crime scene,” he said.

“As a police commander in the not too distant past, I can assure people that when a crime takes place, one of the first things that happens when the initial police officer arrives at the scene is that that scene is sealed.

“The integrity of that scene is kept until the professional crime scene investigators come along and take charge.”