Accreditation of Crime Scene Investigation under ISO17020:2012 Standard in Hong Kong

Crime scene investigation(CSI) is an important link in the criminal justice system as it serves as a bridge between establishing the happenings during an incident and possibly identifying the accountable persons, providing light in the dark. The International Organization for Standardization(ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission(IEC) collaborated to develop the ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard to govern the quality of CSI, a branch of inspection activity.These protocols include the impartiality and competence of the crime scene investigators involved, contemporary recording of scene observations and data obtained, the correct use of resources during scene processing, forensic evidence collection and handling procedures, and the confidentiality and integrity of any scene information obtained from other parties etc. The preparatory work, the accreditation processes involved and the implementation of new quality measures to the existing quality management system in order to achieve the ISO/IE 17020:2012 accreditation at the Forensic Science Division of the Government Laboratory in Hong Kong are discussed in this paper.