Forensic Evidence Data System Improvement

The Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) is an independent crime laboratory established to provide reliable and timely forensic science services to the Houston Police Department (HPD) and Harris County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO). In addition to providing services in seven forensic disciplines, HFSC is scheduled to assume the control of Property and Evidence (P&E) management from HPD. This transition will be a multiple-year process, which presents an opportunity to make improvements to the existing P&E management process, frees up resources for HPD, and places evidence handling under the technical expertise of the forensic laboratory. HFSC plans to apply for accreditation from the American National Standards Institute and National Accreditation Board’s for P&E management under standard AR 3181, established in 2023. Adherence to this accreditation standard will help to reduce risk and ensure accountability and successful administration of the P&E responsibilities. However, there are several factors that must be addressed before moving forward with the transition. The most critical factor is finding a solution to share information on the lifecycle of forensic evidence across the criminal justice agencies. To address the data sharing issue and prepare for the P&E management transition, HFSC is proposing a four-year project that will use Lean Six Sigma methodology to create a design roadmap to enable technology integration across HPD, HCDAO and HFSC information systems. The successful completion of this project will provide a framework for building a system that will allow information to be delivered in a timely manner to criminal justice stakeholders; and ensure evidence can be efficiently transferred to and from the property room to the forensic labs and courts, and be properly disposed of at the end of its life cycle.