STPSO Crime Lab - Improving Quality of Forensic Science Services through Accreditation Compliance

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office (STPSO) Crime Laboratory provides forensic services to law enforcement agencies on the local, state, and federal levels in six forensic disciplines. The primary customer service area encompasses St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, approximately 300,000 citizens. The STPSO Crime Lab acknowledges the importance of providing quality forensic science services and the role external accreditation has in ensuring the quality of those services. For this reason, the STPSO Crime Lab is requesting $34,840 to purchase a quality management software system to assist in compliance with external accreditation agency requirements.

The Crime Lab is in the final stages of the application process for accreditation and expects to receive outside accreditation in the coming weeks. While preparing for the application process, Crime Lab management identified a significant need for a quality management software system. A mainstay of accreditation is providing written objective proof of compliance which is often provided through policy and procedure documentation, documentation of interoffice communications and work flow processes and training records. Tracking this information for six separate forensic disciplines is a daunting task, as each discipline requires unique procedures and training. The anticipated outcome of this grant proposal is the purchase and installation of a quality management system that is geared towards accreditation compliance with ISO/IEC audit standards that will assist the Crime Lab in successful maintenance of its future accreditation status.

ca/ncf.