UK and German forensic experts join forces

LGC Forensics has launched Germany’s largest independent DNA forensics laboratory marking the first time the two countries have collaborated in forensics on a major scale.

The official opening of the groundbreaking Anglo-German DNA forensics laboratory took place earlier this month in Cologne, Germany. The laboratory will give German authorities access to innovative crime-solving techniques using the latest in DNA analysis technology.

At the official opening of the Institut für Blutgruppenforschung LGC (IfB-LGC) laboratory, the UK’s Home Office Interim Quality Regulator for Forensics, Adrian Cory, told German police chiefs how British-lead DNA expertise will radically improve success rates in criminal investigations and enhance the quality of service provided to law enforcement bodies.

Increased demand from the German police to analyse samples for loading onto the German national database led LGC to invest significantly in the laboratory to transfer innovative techniques and methodologies from the UK to Germany.

In the UK, the effective utilisation of DNA technology has been accelerated by the involvement of private sector companies. This has eliminated backlogs, radically reduced the time taken to produce a DNA profile and accelerated the rate of innovation. It has also been recognised as improving success rates in complex and high-profile cases.

Investment in the IfB-LGC laboratory by LGC will also allow German authorities to have access to novel and powerful techniques such as familial DNA searching, a technique for conducting searches of national DNA databases for family members when no direct matches are obtained first time round.

“The expansion of specialist services at IfB-LGC is a major step in the gradual erosion of international frontiers in forensic science and an important development in the international fight against terrorist networks,” said Dr Angela Gallop, director, LGC Forensics.

“These frontiers have developed as different countries have responded in different ways to the opportunities arising from the sophistication of science. Harmonising specialist services like DNA profiling internationally will prove extremely powerful and LGC Forensics is spearheading this drive for integration through collaboration and partnerships abroad.”

The development of specialist services in IfB-LGC marks the beginning of what it is hoped will be long-lasting partnership with the police and the forensic science community in Germany, she added.

“We have for a long time been impressed by German forensic techniques in areas such as textile fibres analysis. There is a lot the UK and German markets can learn from each other in terms of techniques and methodologies, and through our relationship with IfB-LGC we are already beginning to import from Germany specialist expertise to enhance the services we provide in the UK.

“Our role in Germany, through IfB-LGC’s new progressive DNA profiling abilities, is to help the police and forensic science community benefit as we have in the UK from having private sector involvement in the provision of specialist forensic services,” said Dr Gallop.

“In our experience government provision alone is not enough to optimise the benefits of modern DNA technologies and truly empower the criminal investigator. Our UK and German scientists are already working together on improved methodologies, which will greatly enhance the service provided to criminal justice systems across Europe.”